Seek Ye First
by Dina Macaula
Summary: It is absurdly wrong that, in this life where your body does not give in, your spirit should surrender... Marcus Aurelius Antonius
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: Right all. This is the second version of Chapter 1 I have posted here. I have replaced the first in response to numerous complaints regarding typos in the story, of which there were many. I have only combed through the first ten pages or so, but I hope you will find it improved, and please to not hesitate to inform me if more work is needed.

* * *

It began this way. After weeks of reasoning, pleading, and cajoling, Lt. Kara Thrace had convinced Commander Adama of the Battlestar Galactica to allow her to go with a small strike team to supply the resistance on Caprica, and relieve any who might wish to retreat to the comparative safety of the fleet. Twelve had come, piled into the heavy transport that had been Starbuck's ride back to the fleet. Among them, Captain Lee Adama, who had insisted upon accompanying Starbuck over his father's strenuous objection. No one was sure how the young captain had managed to sway the commander on the issue; Kara alone knew of the hours the two had spent sequestered in the commander's quarters arguing it, and even she could not have known what was said. Also, Lt. Karl Agathon had volunteered for the mission, since he knew the conditions under which they would fight and had some experience with them. No one had minded seeing _him _go, as they had not been altogether comfortable with him since his return to the fleet. It was also known that, where he went, the Cylon would follow. It might as well have been the other way around though; Sharon was indispensable to the mission in any case. Racetrack was along as well, in addition to seven marines, called Faustus, Marcel, Tallys, Walker, Landin, Gavin, and Shields, Caprica natives all.

And so it is by this road that we come to our beginning. Twelve men and women, with their hearts in their throats, eased hesitant feet onto their native soil for the first time since the Cylon attack had wiped their lives away. Their lives as they had been. With firearms at the ready they scurried away from their transport, sure that it had been sighted and would probably be found. Starbuck took point, with the other arrayed behind her and Apollo taking up the rear. No one spoke. It had been agreed before they had arrived that the first order of business would be getting clear and finding cover; then the strategizing could begin.

Lee Adama trembled. Here he stood, on his home world, breathing him home air, feeling his home soil beneath his feet and his home sun on his face with home clouds on the horizon. He swallowed, hard, knowing he could not stay.

Knowing Kara hadn't wanted him here in the first place.

There had been something indefinable about her expression when he had told her he would be coming along. She was tense, unsettled somehow, had offered only a perfunctory reply. She hadn't really made eye contact with him since then. From the time he had first climbed aboard the transport that would bring them here he had been waiting for the other shoe to drop, waiting for her to bust open with whatever it was that had been bothering her. But then she'd hardly been the most open person in the worlds with him since her return from her first jaunt to Caprica, and he lacked the energy these days to press her.

The suggestion was made that a few of their number should probably scout ahead. Cylon presence would be far more concentrated that it had been on Kobol, and more still closer to the former high school that the resistance was using as its headquarters. When Apollo had mentioned this, and the likelihood of the cylons waging a pretty aggressive assault on that area, Starbuck had blanched just slightly, and Helo had shifted his weight uncomfortably and glanced sidelong at her. No one picked up on it of course, except Apollo. In the end it was decided that three of them should go ahead, to trip any traps and flush any cylons that might be concealed between where they stood and where they were going. Apollo volunteered to lead the scouts, at which Starbuck paled further still. This time he ignored it. She hadn't wanted him to come, didn't want to open up to him, didn't want to tell him why it was so hard to be around him, and that was fine. But he was not one for making his friends suffer unnecessarily, and frankly it was exhausting him, being around her when she was like this. If she wanted him away, than away he would go.

Apollo took Faustus and Marcel with him, and jogged off without looking back.

And it is here, gentle reader, that our story begins. All else is pieces, being arranged on the board, cards in the hand. All else is shadow. For it is only in pain that men find meaning, when the level at which pain is felt is all that separates one moment from the next.

* * *

They had been moving most of the day at a brisk pace, jogging through the forest with occasional breaks for food, water, and air. The run was not strenuous; they traveled light for speed and were, all three, in peak physical condition. They were careful not to get too far ahead of the others, ranging forward and on either flank, then doubling back a bit, then ranging on. As the day passed uneventfully the scouting mission turned into something of a game, a high adventure for three men who had hardly seen anything but steel bulkheads in months. Of the three of them, only Apollo had seen the sky since the genocide.

Sundown found them standing on a ridge overlooking a shallow valley and facing, by the Lords' grace, west. The sky was alight. Apollo supposed it was one of the most magnificent sunsets he had ever seen. But then even muddy water would look fine after months in the desert. Gods but it was good to be home. Good now. He had no doubt that he would not feel so nostalgic after his first encounter with the cylons who had pillaged his world, but for now he could forget all of that. For now he could stand here, watching the sunset, and imagine that all was as it once was.

"Sir? Will we be returning to the others for the night?" Marcel inquired. He was big man, but uncommonly graceful for his size. He did not look at Lee when he spoke but gazed outward, at the setting sun, with his jaw tight and tears in his eyes.

"I think so. We should have everyone together for a watch rotation."

"And the idea of staying out here at night just the three of us doesn't sound great. Not that I don't feel safe with you fellas…" Faustus grinned.

"Sure Faus, I hear ya. I mean there's no telling if flyboy even knows how to use that thing!" Marcel guffawed, inclined his head in the direction of the rifle Lee held easily against his hip.

"Watch it you two!"

"Yes sir! Sorry sir!" They were still grinning of course, and so was he. Lee had always enjoyed the good-natured ribbing between pilots and marines. He knew that with them there was no underlying malice, no hidden criticism. They were playing, as he was. And when push came to shove they each, blessedly, had their own _different _jobs to do, jobs which they could be confident in doing without the other have any basis for _real _criticism.

"Anyway, he don't need to know how to use it. That's the kind of thing you boys should leave to the prof…"

And then there was a hole in Marcel's head that hadn't been there before. It just expanded there, and the back of his head blew out, and the report of a rifle followed on its heels. Marcel dropped bonelessly, and all Lee and Faustus could do was stare for a moment, the space a heartbeat, and wonder at the blood and brains spattered on each other's faces.

They were on their bellies an instant later, as bullets sang and ricocheted around them. In the dusk, they couldn't see who was shooting at them, but there were a lot of guns out there. They fired blindly, desperately, in the direction the shots were coming from. Marcel's body twitched.

"Move back!" Lee barked.

The two men shimmied backwards, making for the trees, for some cover. _Idiot, idiot, idiot! Standing out here on the ledge, in the wide open, just asking for them to shoot you. Too long. Dumb fraking moron._ Back behind the treeline, Faustus and Lee pushed themselves up to their knees with their rifles held in front of them and ancient hardwoods at their backs. The reports of the enemy drew nearer.

"Aw frak Marcel!" Faustus cursed. "Frak frak frak frak."

"We've got to get out of here!" Lee called. "Back to the others."

Faustus nodded grimly. They were two against many. There was only one thing to do.

* * *

It was not love, the force that leant speed and endurance to Kara Thrace's legs. It was not fear. It was the combination of love and fear driving her, the fear of love lost, the guilt of love betrayed to its death. She and the others had been preparing to camp for the night, when they had heard the shots, the shouting. Everything that had already been unpacked was left behind. No one needed to say a word. They had grabbed up their weapons and were running before the echoes of the first shot had faded out of their hearing.

Lee and his patrol had ranged farther than they had realized. By the time the land ended, the shooting had stopped as well. The woods opened up onto a ridge that overlooked a valley that would have been picturesque in better light, and without the evidence of battle that surrounded them. Plants had been torn to shreds by gunfire. The ground was trampled. There was a blood trail leading east and… and a body on the ridge. He was lying on his face, the dead man, and the back of his head had been completely blown off; they couldn't tell who it was. For an instant, Kara's heart stopped, until Walker crouched beside the man and rolled him over.

"Marcel," he breathed. Kara cursed herself for the relief that coursed through her. She ought to be getting used to this by now, believing Lee was dead, finding out he wasn't.

"This happened recently," Sharon observed. "The blood's still flowing."

"Well the shooting only stopped a couple of minutes ago. Where the frak are Faus and Apollo?"

"Maybe escaped. Maybe captured. Either way they couldn't have gotten…"

"Cover," Shields snapped.

As one, they folded their bodies back around the trees, bringing their rifles to bear on the sky directly over their heads. As their bodies stilled, and their breathing slowed, they could all hear it too. Several sets of feet, moving cautiously through the trees. Cautiously, and quietly. She heard nothing of the heavy strides of the centurions. Human models then…

"Not cylons," Sharon said. Kara shrugged off the feeling that the cylon woman had read her mind, and shot her an inquiring glance. "The newer models lead centurions in the field. We don't travel alone."

It made sense, of course. Kara could not remember ever seeing the human model cylons traveling in groups larger than two or three, and they were seldom seen without a contingent of centurions. Come to think of it, Kara couldn't remember a single time she had seen a human model cylon even armed on Caprica. Cocky bastards. So what? Were these actual humans?

Only one way to find out.

"Hold fire!" she belted. "I'm coming out!"

"Lieutenant! What the frak…"

"Just cover me, private. Don't question."

And with a look of supreme confidence that hardly mirrored the fear roiling within her, Kara Thrace stepped out from behind the tree…

And was hit full on with such crushing force that she heard the rifles behind her being brought about and cocked. She could hear Helo, barking at the marines to lower their weapons, could hear stifled chuckles from some of those who remembered her from her last visit. But she pushed all that away. She focused only on Samuel T. Anders, in whose arms she was held tightly, feet dangling, and whose scent she breathed in like a tonic.

It seemed like hours before he set her down, and even then she did not step away. With her arms wrapped loosely around his neck, and his hands on her hips, she stared long and hard into his eyes.

"Told you I'd be back," she said softly.

"You did. Yes, you did."

Helo cleared his throat. Kara turned, to see that he and Sharon were standing closer together than they had previously been. The marines bore almost identical expressions of confusion and interest. Racetrack looked angry. Reluctantly, Kara reclaimed her military bearing and took a step back.

"Galactica sent you?" Anders asked, looking over the small landing party with his own expression of interest.

"Yeah."

"Some rescue party."

"We brought some supplies for you, some more anti-radiation meds, some ammunition, medical supplies, as much as we could spare. We're to supply you and offer passage back to the fleet for anyone who wants to go."

"You should know better than to move at night," he chided.

"Yeah well…"

"We weren't," Racetrack picked up. Her voice was stiff, cold. "We were setting up camp for the night and heard shots. We had a scouting party out here."

"Yeah we heard it too. That your guy?"

"Corporal Marcel. Yeah. There were two others with him."

"Got taken?"

"We don't know. We only just got here ourselves."

"There's a blood trail," Landin pointed out. "We can track them."

"Ten Point! Bring up a light. Let's help our friends from the Colonial Fleet find their men."

* * *

They didn't stop until midnight. They had long since left the sound of pursuing gunfire behind them, but they had not stopped, could not stop. They would not have stopped now, except Faustus finally faltered, unable to support Lee's weight any longer. Hating himself for his weakness, the Corporal carefully lowered Apollo to the ground, propping him up against a tree. Lee could only nod to express his thanks. Shot twice, it was a miracle he could do as much. The first hit had only grazed him, winging his right thigh as he had laid down suppressive fire for Faustus. That one, though, however minor, had hitched him up just enough to give their enemies time to hit him again, this time to the upper left chest, just below the clavicle. He assumed, based solely on the fact that he was still alive, if not moving totally under his own power, that the bullet had missed everything vital. But he had lost a lot of blood, and only fear and adrenaline had prevented him blacking out with the pain.

"We should keep moving."

"Oh right sir, we should keep moving, great idea. And when you drop dead what am I supposed to tell the old man?" Faustus stripped off his jacket and laid it over the wounded captain. "You should have a fire."

"More great ideas. You and me Faus, what a crew." Apollo looked over the young man crouching in front of him. Faustus was tired, clearly, but none the worse for wear. Lucky bastard. "You should go on, find the others."

"Shut up, sir."

"We're not going to make it Faus. Not like this."

"Sir. Shut. Up."

"I could order you to go."

"Yes you could, Captain. You could certainly do that."

But the man wouldn't go, that was clear enough. And no one would ever know what had happened to them. Kara and the others would have heard the shots, probably rushed to their aid. If they hadn't been picked off by the cylons themselves they would have found Marcel. They might even find Apollo's blood trail, which he had so thoughtfully left for them. But the group from Galactica was here on a mission. They had a destination. Would they split up, risk losing more men? Would they come after them? Maybe. He wasn't even sure if he wanted them to. The longer the others stayed out here, the longer they took getting to the resistance base camp, shelter, and aid, the more likely it was that they would be found and destroyed. Better if they accepted Lee and Faus as losses. Kara wouldn't though. No, not when it was him out there. Kara would have to see a body before she'd ever stop coming for him. It had been all anyone could do to pull him away when it was her life in question, and he knew it was the same with her. It was the invisible tie that had always bound them. Even when they hated each other, they stayed together.

"Frak," he whispered.

"Sir?"

"We should have run into them long before now. We've gotten… turned around somehow."

"Yes sir. But we're not far off I think. We haven't been moving fast enough."

"We need to _get_ moving."

"And tear that wound wide open. You're really thinking tonight sir, I don't mind telling you."

"Faus…"

"Have me court marshaled sir. We hold here until morning."

Morning. Still not dead. Might as well be, Lords knew. Had he slept, or only stared at the night sky? His hand rested over the hole in his shoulder, crusted with red-brown blood. Nothing fresh though. Good sign.

"Faus?" he called. Or tried to call. He voice rasped out of his throat, like the voice of death. Frak, was he thirsty. There was no sign of Faustus.

Minutes ticked by, and Lee neither saw nor heard any sign of his marine companion. He did, however, hear running water nearby. How had he missed that last night? With a groan, and practically feeling the color drain from his face, he hauled himself to his feet. His right leg almost buckled, of course, but he held it together, somehow. One step, two steps, three, towards the water.

Lee pushed through the brush and onto a pebbly beach, stretching out alongside a broad, babbling creek. It would have been a gorgeous spot, except for...

Lee staggered back a step, nearly falling. There, maybe fifty yards away, was Faustus. No, the shell of Faustus. He was being held up by his neck, dangling like a rag doll in the grip of a cylon centurion. Lee stared in horror as the mechanical warrior cast the marine carelessly aside. His neck was broken. The centurion saw Lee, as did his two companions. But Lee didn't care. There was no escape for him anyway. He could barely walk. He would certainly not be running. All he could do was drop to his knees as the cylons stalked towards him.

* * *

They followed the trail until it was totally dark, and even pressed on a little after that. But they could see nothing. They had flashlights, but with their hands covering the beams so that only the necessary amount of light was cast; they were of only limited use. They soon had to admit defeat, at least for the night. Anyway, as Anders had pointed out, those who had been sent back to pick up the supplies the landing party had left at their camp had to be given time to catch up. The Caprica Resistance strike team and the Battlestar Galactica landing party set up camp together, set a watch, and dozed through the rest of the night.

Faustus and Lee had not gone far. It had probably felt like miles to them.

They found Faustus the next morning, only a few klicks from where the battle had begun. He was newly dead. Had they been there only half an hour earlier… There was nothing they could do for him now but speak a few words, and take his dog tags to join Marcel's, to be returned to the Commander, and Galactica.

While most of the others from Galactica wept around her, Starbuck fought back the surge of emotion that threatened to overcome her. She had noticed something about Faustus that the others did not seem to, and she had to combat a new desperation as the implications of it reached her. _Be strong Kara. It doesn't mean anything. Keep it together._ Helo came up alongside, with Sharon at his heels. They had seen it too.

"The broken neck," said Helo in a hushed voice. "That's all that's wrong with him."

"He's not the one that was bleeding."

Lee was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

They didn't kill him.

They didn't carry him either, really. The one who had broken Faus' neck (he could identify that one by the few dings and scratches the marine had inflicted before succumbing) dragged Lee along by the scuff of his neck. Lee stayed on his feet by force of will alone, and when he could do so no more… well _then _the bastard carried him.

How long he could not have said. He was no longer conscious when the centurions dragged him into the clearing and tossed him to the ground. And he was not conscious when the cylons stripped off most of his clothes, nor when they tied his hands together, nor when they hoisted him up and suspended him from a tree limb, with only his toes touching the ground. No, these things he missed, lost as he was in a fugue of pain. He did, however, come awake when they started cutting…

The cylons - Number Six, and the ones known as Doral and Simon - had been in the mountains with a party of centurions, hunting. They had been after a particular fellow who had been harrying them, sniping the new model cylons from a distance whenever any patrolled that area of the mountains. He was one man, an older hermitic type, living in a cabin in the wilds with only his dog for company. He had been difficult to track, but they had gotten him eventually, like they would get all of them. They had been there, finishing up, when a centurion patrol brought them their prize. They had recognized him at once.

Two days and two nights they cut on him, and burned him, and twisted him. Where had he come from? They knew that. Yes, they knew him. He was Lee Adama, Captain, pilot aboard the Battlestar Galactica. When had he come here? How many were with him? Who, exactly, was with him? Where were his friends now? What was his purpose back on Caprica? Where had he been going? Did it hurt?

Vaguely, distantly, in the corner of his mind still able to contemplate such things, he knew they wanted Sharon. And he couldn't tell them. Lords knew he bore no great love for her, but he couldn't give her up. He knew Helo and Starbuck and the others would fight to protect her. He knew she was more of them than of the cylons anyway. And he just couldn't.

Gods but it hurt. And when he called out for his gods they only hit him harder. And when he whispered her name they were intrigued, and cut him more as if to see if he would call for her louder. One looked vaguely sad. One laughed. But he told them nothing. He murmured his prayers, half hoping he would infuriate them into killing him. And he thought of her, and of his father, and of his brother, and of everyone he knew that they had destroyed or would or had tried to destroy or would have tried to destroy if they'd been around when the destroying began. He felt himself dying. He hoped, he prayed, that she would not see his body.

"Do you know," the one called Simon asked, drawing a knife down Lee's chest. "Do you know what we did to her? It's funny about humans. Put the word 'doctor' in front of your name and they'll let you do anything. Touch anything… Just talk to us Lee. Talk to us, and when we find her…and we will find her…when we find her I won't do worse."

Day three.

"You're all alone, you know that don't you Apollo? Even your own people will not help you. You protect them, but it was them that tried to destroy you. See this?" Number Six dug a finger into the wound through Lee's shoulder. "And this?" All four fingers clawed into the wound on his thigh. "Not even the same caliber. Do you think we would be so inefficient, using different caliber weapons? Perhaps it is not us you should hate, hmmm?"

How they had gone so long without killing him he could not understand. But they'd managed. He wondered how long they could drag it out. The fact of the matter was they had been treating his wounds as often as they had inflicted them, though only enough to keep him breathing. He didn't know that though. They did it when he passed out.

"He won't tell us anything," one of them said matter-of-factly that evening. "He cares too much about what we will do to them."

"It's fascinating, isn't it? Even in the face of his own destruction he protects them."

"It is love. How else would the species endure?"

"So weak, but in this so strong."

"Soon we will be as strong. And then we will destroy them all."

"Are we done with him then?"

"Yes. There is nothing more to be gotten from him."

"Then we will destroy him."

"He has already been destroyed. Cut him down and leave him. He does not have much more time."

They cut through his ropes, let him fall to the ground. As the others moved away, Simon moved closer, crouching beside him. There was a malice in this one, where the others were cruelly detached. What had he done? Or rather, what had Kara done, that had this cylon hating her, hating him, so much?

"I want you to know Apollo," Simon said darkly. "And I'll make sure she knows. I want you to know that when you die, it will be because Ikilled you."

He would have died. Should have died, there was no question about that. He would have wanted to die. But she would keep coming for him, until she saw a body. Keep coming, until they killed her too. Or worse. He remembered the stories he'd been told, about the farms, about Kara being special. _No. Get up Lee. Get _up!

He managed to roll over on his back. Frak. He would die here, in this clearing, and she would keep coming. His body, drained, shut down for a while…

A twig snapped in the forest. Rustling in the trees.

"Come and kill me," he managed, not even opening his eyes. "Get it over with."

For a long while, there was nothing.

She had been hiding in the woods for days now, lurking, whimpering, seeking her master. She had scented him in the cabin, but he was bloody, and cold, where he had been warm and living and loving before. He hadn't moved, hadn't spoken to her, hadn't played with her. She had been gone hunting when the cylons came, as had been her custom since before the attack. Had she been there, she would have been dead too. Now she crept, belly to the ground, towards the familiar, warm man smell in the clearing. Bloody man smell, like her master, only this one moved and spoke and breathed. This one was warm. When she drew up to him she raised herself, just slightly, and snuffled at his face.

It was then that Lee opened his eyes.

He gazed up into the large, inquisitive eyes of a massive shepherd-type dog, standing motionless over him but for the twitching of her nose. She was a lovely animal. Or, the head that took up his entire field of vision was lovely. Of course she could probably bite his face off. Lee held very still, letting her take him in. And they stayed that way, staring into each other, for all the ages of the world.

Then she started licking. Tentatively at first, then with a brisk efficiency, she licked the blood from his skin, licked every wound clean. Lee didn't move. He supposed this one improbability shouldn't have disturbed him, as it was only one in a long line of such. Still, he couldn't help but think, through the fog, that it had been a very odd week, with no normalcy in sight.

Using the dog to brace himself, Lee managed to lift himself to his knees. Then, with one arm around the big, furry neck, and walking on his other three limbs, he made his way over to a tree against which he could sit for a while. Would they come back, to make sure he was dead? Simon might, the bastard. He found himself resigned to it. If he died, he died. Many had. He would be but one more.

Lee dozed fitfully, on and off for he knew not how long. Each time he would wake up, the dog would be nearby, padding around the clearing, snuffling at the ground and growling softly to herself, or curled up beside him. She was in remarkable condition really, if a bit underfed. Someone must have been giving her meds. It was difficult to imagine anyone giving good anti-radiation meds to a dog. But to each his own. It certainly wasn't hurting Lee any.

"Hey," he rasped. "Come here, you."

She made her way over to him, cautiously, but with her tail swishing slightly. When the dog hunkered down in front of him he could see what he had clearly felt before; the dog wore a collar. It was an old, ratty thing, though the dog could not have been more than two or three. There was no tag with a name on it, but someone had burned something into the leather; the letters C.E.K. Between the letters were the words they evidently stood for: Cylon Eradicator Kanine. Lee allowed himself a soft chuckle, wondering that someone could spell "Eradicator" perfectly well, but botch "canine."

"Well, I think C.E.K is a terrible name." The dog stared at him intently, thrilled just to have someone talking to her. "But it has potential. I think… Seek. I'll call you Seek. Whaddaya think?" Blink. "Heh. Ok then."

* * *

After the first couple of days, the search party ran out of supplies had were forced to pull back to the Resistance Base at Delphi Union High School. There had been some argument on the issue, with the Resistance half of the group arguing in favor or returning, and the Galactica crew wanting to press on. In the end, it was Starbuck who decided it. They needed to rest and re-supply, maybe organize themselves a little better, and go out again from a position of strength. She wasn't giving up, not by a long shot. They _would _find him, he _would _be alive, and she _would _kick his ass for worrying them all like this when he was really off somewhere enjoying the sights, looting a bar or something…

A night and a day passed, and the Galactica crew chafed to resume the hunt. Starbuck, Helo, and Sharon met with Anders, to discuss where the heaviest cylon activity had been lately, look at some crudely drawn maps, and plan the S.A.R.

"To tell you the truth," Anders said, pointing at a broad swath of land colored in red on the map, "if he's anywhere up here I don't think you're going to find him. Toaster activity is pretty hot up there."

"They were attacked here," Helo said, pointing at the creek on the map, "and as near as we can tell were moving east."

"Towards the red zone. We haven't sent any raiding parties up there in weeks now."

"What if," Sharon put in, "whoever killed Faus, captured Apollo."

"Could be. When Starbuck was wounded they didn't kill her."

"I'm a woman. I had some use to them." Starbuck all but felt her face darken, remember her time in the "hospital," and her cylon doctor. "Why would they keep Lee?"

"Interrogation. They won't expect him here. When you came, it was part of the plan. The Scriptures said someone would return for the Arrow of Apollo. Coming back a second time wasn't part of the plan. Anyway, they'll want to know," she swallowed, "where I am."

"So say that they did capture him. Where would they take him?"

Sharon pointed to the red zone.

"So we get some raiding parties together and start the search. The longer we wait…"

"Whoa whoa whoa. Did you hear what I said? No one goes up there."

"What I heard were excuses. If Lee is up there, and if he's alive, then we're going to find him."

"_If_, he's alive. That you said yourself. And if he's not then we've just wasted gods know how many lives hunting after a dead man."

Kara had not been looking at Anders, but had been leaning hard on her hands over top of the map, which had been laid out on the hood of one of the resistance's trucks. Now she turned, slowly, dangerously, to face him. She moved in, her jaw set, her hands clenched at her sides. Racetrack, watching, was reminded of the few occasions she had seen the lieutenant confronting Captain Adama. She moved inside the safety zone, and was staring him down. Starbuck's voice was low, her gaze hard.

"Maybe it was a mistake for me to assume you would understand, pro pyramid player playing soldier. Apollo's our friend, and he's our captain. He came here to help us bail out your ass and we are not leaving him out there if there's even a chance he's alive. We don't leave a man behind."

"Hey, I get it ok. I do. Don't forget, we came after you."

"Yeah well I guess it's different when it's not a frak buddy you're missing huh?" She turned, to see that the Galactica men and women who had been gathered behind her were standing taller than they can been before, their expressions grimly determined as they were reminded of the standard of fidelity that had been the hallmark not only of their years in the service, but of their lives since the attack. "Saddle up," she said stiffly. "These frakkers don't want to come with us we'll go ourselves. Take only what you need. Let's move."

* * *

The destruction was horrifying.

Lee had seen terrible things since the war began. He had known that the Colonies had been devastated, had suffered nightmares in which he watched entire cities blown off the worlds. He had imagined friends and family members dead or dying, and he did not know a single soul who had not. But he had not seen such devastation on such a personal level before.

It was only a small cabin, built into the side of a hill. The logs looked to have been hand hewn, and it was clear that the one who had constructed the cabin had put many loving and dedicated hours into it. It must have been so peaceful, living here alone in the mountains. And it was peaceful now.

The door had been ripped off its hinges, and lay ten feet away, broken over the trunk of a tree. Bullet holes were evident in the logs. Inside, furniture was overturned, class was smashed, and blood spattered the walls. The old man slumped over the overturned table had not been shot; he had been beaten to death. Beaten to death and left there.

Lee stood helplessly in the door way, taking in the scene. The dog wandered around in the interior of the cabin, whimpering softly. She had come from here. As soon as Lee had found his feet and made as if to walk she had bounded in this direction, as if it did not occur to her to go anywhere else. And it probably hadn't. It seemed as if the only items that had not been displaced were hers; a couple of tin bowls in the corner, a leash hanging on the back of the door. Maybe she had wanted him to fix it, put it all back the way it was. Well, there was no doing that.

"You weren't here, were you pup?" He took a step in, and another, leaning on a large stick he had found for support. "Gods, they really must have hated him."

Hated. It was still difficult to imagine the machines with emotions, even after the time he had spent with Sharon, even after the malice he had seen in those who had tortured him. What could this one little old man could have done to make them despise him so, brutalize him like this? Of course it was obvious. It was as clear as the hunting rifle lying beside him. Hermit or not, no man stood by and let his home world be destroyed, his people killed. He had probably been picking them off. Living up here by himself, he must have been a handy shot, a hunter.

Lee ran his fingers over the bullet holes in the outer wall of the cabin. Big holes.

The first gifts Seek's owner provided were by far the greatest treasures Lee had seen. First, there was food in the cabinets; nonperishable stuffs in sealed cans. There was also a med kit, and anti-radiation meds that looked to have been scavenged from Delphi General Hospital. These items occupied Lee for a good hour, as he ate and treated his various injuries as best he could. He shared everything he found with Seek, since not to do so would have felt rather like coming into a starving man's house and eating a whole turkey in front of him. He even gave her anti-radiation meds, and when he injected the meds into the scruff of her neck he could see the tracks where he owner had been doing the same. For companionship no doubt, and because a dog was probably a very useful thing to have up here.

After eating and patching himself together, Lee started cleaning the place up a bit. He didn't know what else to do. Anyway, it was almost criminal that a home a man built with his own hands, and loved, be left this way with him rotting inside of it. Not even really thinking about what he was doing, he began tipping chairs upright, placing belongings back on shelves, stacking books and papers neatly. He even dragged the man over to one of the chairs, sat him in it, and covered him with a blanket.

He was not unrewarded for his efforts. He found the knapsack hanging on a peg behind the door, with a cane leaning in the corner behind it. Then there was the rifle, and half a box of ammunition left in a cabinet over the stove. A length of rope, a hatchet, a canteen. These he packed into the knapsack carefully, with a few books (one of which looked to be the old man's journal), which he knew he wouldn't be able to bring himself to leave behind. There was a blanket, an oilskin duster, and a good knife. Gods love these survivalist types, he thought. With these, and the food he had found, he would be able to make his way pretty well, and hopefully find the others. Yes, things were definitely looking up for Lee Adama. He smiled wryly to himself. Hell of a universe, where this was "up."

Though it made him a little squeamish, sharing such a small space with such a very dead man, Lee stayed the night in the cabin. It would have been downright foolish, staying out in the open when he could have had shelter. He slept dreamlessly.

The following dawn he left the cabin feeling as refreshed as one could expect. He carried out everything that he had decided to take with him, and was about to leave the place behind him, when an unexpected thought gave him pause. He very much did not want to leave this place here like this, scarred by the enemy, with such a brave man lying beaten inside. He remembered seeing a fire kit inside. He hadn't taken it, because starting a fire every night would have marked his trail. Setting down his knapsack and the rifle, he made his way back inside. It was with unconscious ceremony that he spread the lighter fluid about the place and lit the match. Of course, the cylons would know where he was… but any searchers would know as well.

"Lords of Kobol," he said softly, as he watched the place burn. "Watch over your servant. He saved my life, and defended one of your Colonies as best he could, which honors you. Take him to you. Let him rest in peace."

* * *

It was Gavin that spotted it first, a huge plume of black smoke rising to the north. Nothing had been seen burning on Caprica in weeks; the Cylons were very bent on keeping as much of the infrastructure in tact as they could. This had to be a massive fire, for them to see it from such a distance. A signal fire, maybe…

"Think that's your captain?" Anders asked. He and several of the others had come along with the Galactica searchers, partly out of shame, partly because they had a strong sense of territory after fighting here for so long, and didn't want strangers wandering unsupervised on theirs.

"Something's going on up there. Anyway, it's the only lead we have." She raised her voice, so that it would carry to the whole group. "Let's haul ass people. If that is Lee, the cylons will have seen it too."

* * *

The cane and med kit made traveling easier, but Lee still had to stop regularly to rest. Seek stayed with him, tense and hyper alert. He was glad of the support, and of the security he had in knowing that she would be aware of any approach long before he was. He talked to her at first as they traveled, but as the day wore on, and he wore out, he trucked on silently. It was probably better that way anyway.

They encountered their first cylon patrol sometime in the mid afternoon, on the day after they left the cabin. Seek pulled up short, bristled and bared her teeth, with a low rumble starting deep in her chest and rising to a snarl in her throat. Lee wasted now time. Grabbing her by her collar, he hauled her back with him into the cover of a thicket and wrapped on arm around her neck, the opposite hand around her muzzle to silence her.

"Shhh," he cautioned. Damned if she didn't seem to understand him. The dog silenced, and stopped straining against him, though she didn't relax. After a few moments, reassuring himself that she wouldn't get up if he released her, Lee slowly let her go and reached for his rifle. He had a round in the chamber by the time the first cylons appeared. It was one of the blonde woman models, dressed all in white, leading three centurions with her. She didn't seem to be looking for anything in particular, nor did she seem aware of him. Maybe one hundred yards away when she came into view, she moved with purpose, but not in his direction. Had he still been walking, she would have been moving parallel to him. Actually, she looked to be heading roughly back the way he had come. Investigating the fire maybe. And if she got there and found his trail she'd be coming around after him.

"Whadaya think, boss?" he whispered. "Think we can take 'em?"

The dog chuffed and strained forward, but didn't get up. It was sheer idiocy of course. He was one badly injured man with a dog and a rifle. But he had one thing working, both for and against him, that his opponents did not have. He was very, very angry. If Marcel being shot, and Faus' neck being broken, and him being shot and brutally tortured had not been enough to enrage him to the point of lunacy, which he had witnessed at the old man's college and quite thoroughly pushed him over the edge of reason. He had to swallow hard to keep from growling himself.

He pulled three more bullets out of his pocked and laid them out on the ground beside him trigger hand. Of course it wasn't likely that the bullets would penetrate the centurion's armor, but maybe if he hit them right in the eye…

As soon as the first shot was fired Seek was off and running. Cylon number one hadn't even hit the ground and Lee had his next shot loaded. The crack of the rifle was accompanied by a startled shout, as Seek hit the female cylon full in the chest and knocked her back. Lee pushed back his concern for the animal, whipped another bullet into the chamber. The final centurion was confused, not sure where the more immediate threat lay, and was about to bring his guns to bear on the dog when he met Lee's bullet. It was too late to save his leader anyway; Seek had torn out the cylon's throat.

"Cylon Eradicator. Right." He said in amazement. He whistled sharply, and Seek trotted back to help him up.

* * *

The search party had just arrived at the cabin, what was left of it, when they heard the shooting. It didn't last very long. Actually, there were only three shots, and one shout, then silence. With only a perfunctory glance around the charred remains of the cabin, the searchers set off towards the sound.

What they found when they arrived at the scene the following morning frightened and amazed them. Three centurions were down, the glass slits that everyone supposed where eyes each shattered with a single shot. That was amazing enough, but not half so amazing as the human model cylon lying in the loam, her white clothing dark with blood. Something had torn her throat out, ripping aware the flesh right down to the spine. Sharon covered her mouth and turned away; the others just gaped.

"What could do something like that?" Landin breathed.

"Looks like the shooter was here," Shields called. He stood about a hundred yards away, near a honeysuckle thicket. "I can see where he was lying under the brush."

"Any tracks?"

"'Bout what you'd expect. One man with a… with a damn big gun." He held up a shell casing, found under the leaves. "50 cal, looks like. Some dog tracks too. Thing's got a foot the size of my fist."

"Can you tell which way they went?"

"West," Shields answered readily, with a jerk of his chin. "With a limp."

"Lee," Starbuck breathed. She didn't even notice Anders watching her, hardly noticed anyone at all. "Let's move people!"

* * *

"Why couldn't I have randomly happened upon a horse, huh? Or even a donkey. A donkey would have been nice. But nope, gods see fit to saddle with this damn hound dog. An ox even. You can ride oxen right? Hey, are you even listening to me."

Seek had not, in fact, been listening. The dog had made her way down to a stream at the base of a slight incline, a few yards away from where Lee sat. The constant travel had taken its toll on Lee, and he had found that he had to rest more frequently throughout the day. Still, he felt he was making good progress, considering that he ought to have been dead. Seek, who had waded out a short way into the water, lifted her head to gaze intently at him. It was an expression that reminded him of Starbuck, when she was trying to psych someone out at the evening card came. He couldn't help but laugh.

"Two of Starbuck. Now there's something I _don't _need. What are you doing down there anyway? You can't be that thirsty."

Seek just stuck her head back in the water. Washing her face maybe. He hadn't been able to wipe all of the dried blood off of her muzzle after the pervious day's cylon adventure. Lee smiled to himself and shook his head. That, in hindsight, was a bad idea. His head was throbbing, and every muscle, even those in his neck, ached.

"Come up here will you?" It hadn't taken him long to discover that stroking the dog's fur calmed him, and, somehow, made the pain less. "You hungry?"

Of course she was. Damn dog ate like a bear. He had some canned peaches, but doubted she wanted those. Even is she did, he wanted them more. There was some jerky too, which he pulled out of the knapsack. She was focused on him utterly, every part of her at the ready. Didn't take much for this one.

"Ok, but first, we're going to practice. Ready." Seek chuffed softly at him, zeroed in on the jerky, her tail wagging slightly. Lee ran through a few of the drills he'd been working on with her. Seek was a quick study, and executed each new lesson flawlessly.

Lee tossed Seek a piece of jerky. He had decided yesterday, after he had witnessed the awesome killing power of his new companion, that it would be a good idea to make sure he had total control over her. After all, if he ever found the others…when he found the others, he would have to make sure he could keep the dog off of Sharon. It seemed someone had already put a lot of time into training Seek. It was just a matter of Lee teaching her to respect his authority. Again, it didn't take much. He was all she had, and she was already devoted to him utterly. Of course it helped his cause that he was the provider of food. They sat for a while, eating and enjoying the rest. Lee didn't want to stay long, though. He wanted to make as much progress as possible today. He and Seek had been traveling at night too, but they moved even slower then, and he covered the most ground during the daylight hours.

"Time to get moving again huh?" Bracing himself with the cane and the dog, Lee pushed himself to his feet and hoisted the knapsack onto his back, and the rifle over his shoulder. "Come on."

A few hours later, he and Seek emerged onto a roadway stretching east to west. It was a dirt road, but had clearly been used recently. He wondered, could this be the way to the mysterious Resistance Base? He had lived on Caprica for most of his life, but had never spent much time in the Delphi area. Starbuck had moved there after Zak had died, though she was only really there on leave, and he had transferred to Atlantia. It had been conscious, avoiding her when he _was _home. It had just sort of happened that way, that he wasn't ready to see her really… not for two years. _You're such a frakin' ass, Lee_.

Anyway, that was beside the point. Did he follow this road, or didn't he? On the one hand, this road could lead him to the very place he had been trying to get all the while. On the other, it could… not. And wherever "not" was, it was bound to be crawling with cylons. And it was open. If he stayed on the road he would be exposed to all manner of unpleasantness.

In the end, Lee decided to follow the road from inside the tree line. He would keep his eye on Seek, who had already proven herself to be as fine a cylon detector as ever there was. He would have to remember that, for when he returned to Galactica. Quick and efficient, have dogs sniff everybody in the fleet. Where there any dogs in the fleet, he wondered. He had never heard of there being any, or seen any. Someone had to have been traveling with a dog. He would not be surprised to learn that any dogs had been killed for food.

Seek grew impatient, and jogged off to the west. With a resigned sigh, Lee turned to follow her. And least he wasn't going in circles.

* * *

The search party was pinned, and under heavy fire.

It had happened suddenly, and Starbuck was still reeling. The sudden burst of gunfire had taken down Tallys, and Shields was wounded and out of commission. A resistance guy she didn't know had been killed. The cylons were everywhere. There was nowhere to go.

Following the road had seemed a safe enough bet. They had lost the trail that they assumed was Lee's a while back, and figured that, if he came out somewhere along the same road they did, he would follow it. They already knew that they were moving faster than he was, so just followed along in the direction he had been going: west. The resistance scout that had done the recon on this area had neglected to draw the cylon outpost, an old truck stop, on the map.

"Can you see how many!" Helo shouted.

"No! I think most of them are inside!"

"But not all!" Sharon put in. "If we don't move they're going to flank us."

No sooner had the words left her mouth than one of the resistance fighters was hit from behind; a few cylons had somehow managed to move, unnoticed, behind their position.

"Frak!"

"What do you wanna do Kara?" That was Anders, who had pulled his guy back next to Shields and had turned now to face the threat behind them. If they stayed here, they would be cut to pieces. At least the Galactica crew had thought to come down bearing explosive rounds. _Boom! _That did for one right there.

"We'll have to make a break for it!" Landin barked.

"A break for what! They're everywhere!"

Helo pulled a pin and launched his concussion grenade through the window of the old service station. At least there would be no more shooting from _that _direction. Starbuck craned her head around the fuel pump which she had taken cover behind, and knocked out the centurion which had been firing on them from the roof of the diner. For the first time, she was regretting having split there forces. She had been right to assume that they would cover more ground in two units, thus limiting their time in the red zone. But, in hindsight, it might have been best to move through cylon territory with as large a concentration of fighters as possible. Now she, Anders, Helo, Sharon, Gavin, Landin, an injured Shields, and three other resistance fighters, one of whom was also wounded, were fighting for their lives. Tallys, and one of Anders' men, had already lost that fight.

Helo and Anders between them had managed to take out the cylons that were behind them, but more would soon replace them. Let them call in a raider and it would be all over.

"Make for the service station!" she called. It would bring them closer to their enemies, as its outer door faced that of the diner, but at least they would have better cover.

Sharon and Landin got hold of Shields, and Kara helped Anders haul his injured man. The sprint across the lot to the recently bombed out service station seemed to take ages, with bullets ricocheting everywhere. A shard of concrete sliced Starbuck's calf. Gavin took a bullet in the chest.

"Come on come on come on!" Starbuck called. She couldn't shoot worth a damn, carrying dead weight as she was, and Sharon and Landon were tied up as well. Helo reached the door first, and turned to cover them as they pushed through. No cylons had survived the grenade blast undamaged, and those that were still moving were quickly dispatched. Shields and Anders' man were settled in a corner and given their rifles; of course they wouldn't do them much good, if the cylons got passed the defenders who were still standing.

Sharon fought like a demon possessed. Kara had underestimated the cylon woman's fear of being reclaimed by her former comrades. She had not, however, underestimated Helo's fear of the exact same thing; the two of them, fighting side by side, fired more rounds in the space of a few minutes than Kara believed she had fired through the entire fight. Helo pitched a couple more grenades, blowing huge breaches in the diner wall, but not really doing much visible damage to the cylons sheltered behind it.

Seconds felt like minutes felt like hours as the fight raged on.

"Reload!" Starbuck called, as her clip ran dry. Then again, when he didn't respond immediately, "Anders! Ammo!"

"I'm out!"

"Me too!" Helo barked. "Frak frak frak!"

It didn't take long after that. Sharon and Landin both ran dry shortly thereafter, and they all sagged with their backs to the concrete, heaving with exertion and fear. Moments later, the cylons stopped firing. The silence was, as cliché as it sounds, deafening.

"I got three for sure," Anders said softly into the quiet.

"Me too. I think we all got a piece."

"Frakkers were standing right in the window, didn't even try to take cover."

"You think we got them all?" Anders asked without conviction.

"No way."

They didn't really speak after that. They all, each one, expected that any moment the shooting would begin again, or a raider would fly in and blast the hell out of them, or something equally devastating. They did not for a moment assume they had won.

And they were right.

Several of the human model cylons walked casually out into the lot, with no indication of fear of the humans boxed up in the service station. They were all recognizable models. Kara, with a shudder, noticed the one she knew as Simon among them. Then there was her pal Leoben, and the blonde she had fought in the museum at Delphi, the one Sharon called, simply, Number Six. A number of centurions came in behind them, all with guns trained on the service station. They stood ready to wipe the defenders off the planet. Yet, for whatever reason, they didn't.

"They don't want me killed," Sharon whispered. "The baby dies if this body dies."

"Pretty trusting aren't they? How do they know we won't shoot them where they stand?"

"We stopped shooting. They're not stupid. Anyway, they wouldn't care. If we kill those bodies they'll be downloaded into others, and the centurions will charge and kill us all anyway."

"Anyone else not liking the odds here?"

Helo, eyes trained on the cylons in the lot, raised a hand.

"So…what do we do?"

"I don't…"

Kara was cut off mid sentence by a long, shrill whistle, stabbing at them out of the forest. The cylons whipped around, or the human models did; the centurions were yet trained on the service station. A knowing smile split Simon's face as he muttered something, though they couldn't tell what, and Number Six took a step back. What she thought she was stepping back from…that remained to be seen.

"What's going on?" Starbuck asked. No one answered.

At length, the cylons turned back to face them. Was that fear on Number Six's face? Impossible. She was seeing only what she wanted to see. Sharon had said it; the cylons had nothing to fear. Leoben took a step towards the service station…

And pitched over. A bullet (a large caliber rifle, judging but the way his face blew off when the bullet exited), tore through his skull like paper. They heard the report of the rifle a second later. Bastard could shoot, whoever he was. The rest of the search party, catching up with them?

A second round, followed shortly by a third, took out one of the centurions. Quick thinking Helo took advantage of the distraction to rip the pin out of his last remaining grenade and, with the pin still in his teeth, pitched it out into the lot. Simon and Number Six dove out of the way; all but two of the centurions were not so lucky. Shields hissed at them, and slid his rifle across the floor… his still loaded rifle. Starbuck snatched it up with a grateful nod. In the confusion, she was able to dispatch one of the remaining cylons, which had been damaged by the grenade blast, but was still upright.

The whistle sounded again. The sniper's attention seemed to be focused primarily on the centurions, who had begun firing back now in the direction the rounds were coming from. There was a brief lull in the rifle fire, probably the result of the sniper scrambling to change positions. It seemed as if the sniper was drawing closer.

And he wasn't the only thing that was. It came out of no where, a brown-black blur shooting out from the tree line and across the street. Too late, Number Six spun to face it. Had her response been any quicker, or had the beast been any smaller, she might have put up a nasty fight. But the animal moved with a brutal single mindedness. Though the defenders in the service station had no way of knowing it, the creature was targeting first the most familiar enemy. The blur solidified into a massive, bearish mass that bowled Number Six over. The cylon pushed the dog back hard, flipping it over, but was soon set upon again. The dog wasted no time with her second lunge; she grabbed the enemy by the throat and shook her head furiously, simultaneously tearing into the jugular and snapping the neck. With barely any hesitation, the monster wheeled on Simon. All the service station defenders could do was stare on in fascinated horror. They weren't even under cover anymore. Without realizing it, they had risen to their feet and moved to the doorway and windows. Absently, Starbuck noticed that the rifle had stopped firing.

The dog would have had a harder time with Simon. The cylon man was standing with fists clenched, ready to meet the beast head on. his face was expressionless, which was as close to grim as either Starbuck or Sharon had ever seen him. Sensing that this foe would not be knocked down so easily, the dog stalked towards him, body low to the ground, fangs bared and guard hairs bristled. It was a fearsome sight. Blood still dripped from the muzzle. Of course with Simon standing prepared for the attack the dog didn't stand a chance; all he had to do was land one solid punch to knock its skull in.

Then the momentarily hushed rifle decided to weigh in. The shot, coming from somewhere off to the left, took out Simon's knee cap. Almost in tandem with the shot, the dog sprang, slamming into the cylon's chest as he buckled and knocking him back. Frak that creature was quick. Jaws had just closed on his neck when…

"Down!"

The dog dropped, all her weight on Simon's chest, her teeth tight on his throat; she would be able to finish him if he made any move. It was a wonder he could breathe with all that weight on him, though in his place Starbuck supposed she wouldn't be doing much breathing anyway.

Or in the place she herself was in, because what happened next took her breath away. Limping towards them, leaning heavily on a burnished cane with his hunting rifle slung over his shoulder, was Lee Adama. Starbuck was only dimly aware of Landin and Sharon going back inside to help Shields and the other man up. She was barely aware of her feet moving. With Anders and Helo flanking her, she made her way slowly towards the apparition coming towards her.

Lee was cleaner than she would have expected, though caked blood could still be seen in his hair and on his clothes. He was gaunt, and pale, and shaking on his feet. He had had to move quickly to get here after he had heard the shooting; quicker than he should have. Gods he looked like death.

Lee reached Simon before they did, and lowered himself painfully to one knee. He braced himself on the cane with one hand, and with the other absently stroked the bristled coat of the huge shepherd dog that held Simon in an iron grip.

"Hello, Simon," he said simply. His voice was low, but not weak. Simon tried to respond, but the words came out in a strangled gurgled. "What? How am I alive? Oh well, you see Simon, when I die… it will _not _be because you killed me."

Simon's eyes widened.

The noise Lee made was like air being forced between clenched teeth. And that quickly, it was over. The dog was a proficient killer. Using both the cane and the dog for support, Lee pushed himself to his feet. His eyes, bloodshot, focused on Starbuck, Helo, and Anders in turn, then beyond them.

Slowly, Lee tightened his fingers around the worn leather collar Seek wore. His fingers touched his palm not a moment too soon. A low, dangerous rumbled in her chest, and Seek longed forward. Lee's restraining hand pulled her up sharply, so that the dog was standing on her hind legs and straining forward, ears laid back teeth bared. What had begun as a low growl was now a savage snarl.

And Lee's face contorted with agony. What color was left in his face drained away. His body shook violently. The nearest hand to Seek when he had spotted Sharon emerging from the service station behind Starbuck and the others had been his left, and it was against his left arm that Seek now struggled. The bullet wound in his left shoulder, poorly healing to begin with, tore with the stress the one hundred fifty point dog was putting on her Lee's arm. He broke into a sweat. She was hardly pulling as hard as she could, but she was pulling hard enough. Lee rocked back and forth, staring hard at Sharon's face. And she saw the pain there.

Lee let his eyes slip shut, and with all the strength of mind and body he could rally, hauled Seek back down.

"Sit," he rasped.

The dog obeyed, muscles quivering, and Lee slowly uncurled his stiff fingers from around the collar. He was still shaking, still rocking slightly, back and forth. The dog had stopped growling, and now, with ears forward, simply fixed its gaze intently upon the cylon her new master did not seem to want her to kill. Lee was relieved she had obeyed him; they hadn't known each other very long, and he hadn't been altogether certain she would.

"Lee?"

Kara's voice quavered slightly. Gods, Lee. She moved towards him slowly, wary of his companion with the blood concealing on her snout. He seemed to look through her, the pain washing over him in waves. He was a wreck. Blood blossoms bloomed on his clothing where old wounds had been reopened. She could see ligature marks on his wrists, what looked like a rope burn on his neck. Ever so slowly, because she wasn't really sure he was aware of her, she reached to him, brushed her fingers against his arm…

And caught him halfway to the ground as he legs gave out and he sank to the pavement. Lee Adama was overcome with emotion and an exhaustion which, until now, until he was safe, adrenaline had not allowed him to feel. But here she was, here they were, and it would be ok now. If he died it would be with them. And just like that, the fire went out. He was on his knees and in her arms as she held him almost as tightly as he held her. His face buried in the crook her neck, breathing her in, he wept silently and unabashedly. Seek whimpered, paced back and forth, confused. Lee was only distantly aware of her. After only moments Kara felt his weight sag, and she shifted from her knees to a seated position, bringing him down with her to cradle him in her arms. His face, as every muscle in his body, was lax. Tears stained his face. Kara Thrace trembled, and grieved. How had he lived like this? How could she survive seeing him like this?

"We have to get him to a medic," she said. "Right now."


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: Right. So it's three o'clock in the morning and for some reason God only knows I have been up since Battlestar ended, working on this blasted thing. It is chapter two of the story previously posted, and I think it's ok. However, it is three in the morning, and I may have missed some things in my proofreading. I know some of you were bothered by the typos before, and I do apologize. I'm also only half sure of what I've written…so I'm going to reserve the right to edit if the need arises. Again, reviews are most welcome. Invited actually. The more critical, the better. Pick me apart, if you please. Could be better… I want to make it that way. Enjoy.

* * *

They had to move quickly.

No one new how far away Lee had been when the sounds of weapons fire had brought him to the service station fight, but if he had heard it and known enough to come to their aid, then any cylon patrols in the area certainly would have. Still, knowing what needed to be done and actually accomplishing it were two different matters entirely. Five able bodied men and women remained now to move themselves and three injured comrades the ten miles overland to the comparative refuge offered by the Delphi Union High School, at speed.

Shields and the injured resistance man (Starbuck had finally remembered his name was Jackson), had been brought out to sit alongside Lee while the others tried to figure out a plan of action. Shields believed he would probably be able to walk on his own, with minimal support, but Jackson most certainly could not, and Lee wasn't even responsive. He had been lying there, in the dirt, with the dog beside him and Starbuck's jacket bunched up under his head for half an hour, with no sign of waking. He would be dead weight, unless his condition changed before they had to get underway, which everyone doubted.

Fortunately for them most of the supplies the truck stop had been equipped with at the time of the attack were still there. It had primarily serviced hunters and other sorts of sportsmen, who would stop here on their way up to camps in the mountains, and also the truckers who hauled supplies up to them. They weren't lucky enough to find, say, an ATV that had been in for repairs, but there was a dolly in the service station, and Landin turned up a good length of rope. They rigged up a sled of sorts to haul Lee on, and outfitted Shields with the cane; Lee wouldn't be needing it right now anyway.

The harness, interestingly enough, had been Sharon's idea. She had kept her distance from the dog, and Helo had, almost unconsciously, positioned himself between the two of them for the entire time they had been working. But Sharon's eyes had hardly left the animal, and her expression was a curious and calculating one. At her suggestion, Landin tied some of the rope into a sort of harness, which he put on the dog, and tied back to the dolly. This way, if they could get her to pull it, Landin and Anders could take up the ropes tied to the back end of the dolly and lift it over the obstacles they would encounter crossing rough terrain. They found a heavy leather leash tied around Lee's waist like a belt, which Kara untied and gingerly pulled off him. She clipped one end to the dog's collar and tied the other to her belt. It was the damnedest crazy idea she'd heard yet this trip, but that wasn't saying much, and Sharon had proven herself to be the sort of person who did not often succumb to foolish notions.

"Let's get out if here," Anders growled. "We've stayed too long as it is."

"Help me lift him."

As gently as they could, they eased Lee onto the dolly. It was too small to hold the whole of him, but they'd scavenged some boards from one of the outbuildings to lengthen the thing as much as they were able, and it would be serviceable, if not pretty. Kara took point, tugging the dog along with her, and with Jackson braced between her and Helo. Sharon brought up the rear with Shields, keeping a watchful eye on him, and offering her arm when he looked to be faltering. Their first order of business was to get the hell of the road, which they did in fairly sharp order, considering. The way they had come had seemed easy enough on the way here, but it proved quite different on the return trip, hindered as they were.

It did not take long for Starbuck to begin to get an idea of why someone would have used their precious anti-radiation meds to keep their pet dog alive. This particular dog ("Cylon Eradicator," she noted with amusement), probably weighed in at one hundred fifty pounds. That was one hundred and fifty pounds of muscle, which rippled visibly beneath the mud/blood caked fur as she strained against the harness. She had resisted the leash a little starting out, but had eventually settled in to follow Starbuck meekly enough. Kara made a note to commend Sharon for the suggestion; without the dog hauling on the dolly, their progress would have been significantly slower. Lee was not a small man though, and she didn't want either the animal, or the two men lifting from the rear, to strain themselves or burn out. If they were lucky, they would run into the other half of the search party before long. If they weren't lucky… well they just weren't, were they?

"Ok everybody," Starbuck said, glancing around and brushing her bangs back out of her face. "Take five."

Jackson and Shields were helped to sitting positions against trees. Canteens were passed around. Kara knelt beside Lee.

"How is he?" Anders asked softly, bending knee beside her.

"I know as much as you do." She was almost afraid to peel back his shirt, to look again at the wound through his left shoulder. "Gods, they really fraked him up…"

And they had. Lee had been shot twice. One bullet had pierced his shoulder, through and through, just before his left clavicle. The other had gashed his leg, more a graze really. If she had to guess, she would say that the leg wound had been the first. But that wasn't the half of it. They had torn him to pieces. She could see where they had dug at the bullet wounds, see where they had cut and scratched him. There was extensive bruising on the torso and upper arms, though it seemed they hadn't beat him much around the face. The ligature marks on his arms were cuts in their own right; the ropes had cut right through the skin. And there had, at some point, been a rope around his neck. It even looked as though he'd been burned. The evidence that his injuries had been treated to some extent, of which there actually was some, did not compare to the signs of abuse on his body.

"They're tracking him you know," Sharon said stiffly. She was standing with Helo, near where Shields and Jackson were sitting, watching Kara's examination intently. Helo would not have said it, but he got the impression that Sharon was more interested in how Kara dealt with Apollo, that with the injured Captain himself. "That's the only reason they would have let him live."

"Tracking him how?" Anders asked, incredulous.

"An implant probably."

"Or the dog maybe?"

"No. We don't keep dogs."

"Yeah for good reason seems like. Where would this implant be?"

"Imbedded in any one of a hundred wounds," Kara murmured. She tugged the duster Lee had picked up somewhere back over him, and readjusted the ropes that were holding him onto the dolly. "Doesn't matter. We can't probe around for it now."

"They'll follow us."

"They know where we're going anyway." She sighed, rocked back on her heels. This was not, at all, the way she had imagined the glorious return of the cavalry to Caprica. "Break's over. Let's move."

The gods were with them.

They met up with the other half of the search party around dusk. They had been drawn by the sounds of the battle, as Lee had been, and as every cylon on the fraking planet probably was. Things moved a lot faster after that. Despite Kara's concern that the cylons had probably honed in on their position, there not threatened by a single cylon attack that night. And they did travel all night. Lee had begun to mumble in his sleep, and it was unilaterally decided that the very best thing would be to get him back to a medic before he woke up all together.

It was good that they did. They had no sooner gotten him off the dolly and onto a cot in the old high school health office when he bolted up screaming. Lee's eyes were open, but he did not see. He fought blindly, and savagely, through a fugue of pain and fear and rage only a few of them understood. Walker and Landin struggled to hold him down as the medic drew a dose of sedative, but a terrified man can be as terrible a thing as that which he fears, and Lee fought like a wild thing. He cried out, he wept, he raged against them. And with each new thrash wounds tore, and blood flowed. The more they tried to hold him the harder he fought.

Kara moved quickly. Her face was set, grimly determined, the only indication of her grief the tears shining in her angry eyes. One, two, three strides had her at his bedside. She nudged Landin out of the way. Her right had alighted on the side of his face, her fingers pushing into his matted hair as she leaned close to him, rested her head against his, her lips close to his ear. They could see her jaw moving, knew that she was whispering to him, but no one heard what she said. (_"Keep it together, Apollo. Come on Lee don't you leave me. Stay with me Lee. Focus. Focus on my voice. You hear me? We've got you. You're safe. It's me now. Just you and me. Keep it together Lee. Stay with me. Stay with me. Stay with me."_)They saw Lee's hand fly up and lock Kara's arm in a white knuckle grip. They saw his entire body quaking. But the fighting had stopped; Lee had stopped fighting the second Kara had touched him. With her leaning against him, whispering softly to him, he kept still enough for the medic to administer the precious medication.

For several moments after his body went lax, and the hand that had gripped her so desperately fell, Kara did not draw away. She did not want the others to see the tears flowing down her cheeks, or how pale she was sure she'd become, or the pain that contorted her features. Finally, with great effort, she drew back just far enough to touch her forehead to Lee's, the tip of her nose to his. Her eyes closed briefly.

When she finally stood, her expression was one of steely resolution. She pulled her gaze from Lee and turned it on the medic, and than each of the men and women masquerading as medics. She let them see her face. Few noticed the fingers still brushing Lee's hand. Her voice was hard when she spoke.

"He's not going to die here. Whatever you have to do, do it."

* * *

It was some hours later before Anders went to her. He had seen how broken up she was about her friend, and he had been one of those who had noticed her reluctance to break contact with him, when they were in the infirmary before. He understood how hard it must be for her, to see someone she had served with for so long in that condition. Almost all of the old C-Bucks were gone now, and the pain of their loss was still fresh in his heart. There were days when he wanted to drop to the ground and die too. How could a man go on, when everyone he had ever loved and trusted was taken from him, one after the other?

So he had wanted to give her time, just to be with her shipmates, and her fallen captain. He had never been a military man, any more than he was now, but his understanding of it was that they felt a kinship towards one another as strong as blood. He'd gotten a taste of that, fighting on Caprica. How much more ingrained it must be for those who were serving together, united against the enemy, even before the attacks. They were immersed in it, lived in a culture of it. It wasn't until late, when he sighted most of the Galactica crew gathered around a fire, some hand in hand, speaking softly to one another and staring into the flames, that he decided to go find Starbuck.

She was still in the infirmary.

Captain Adama had been set away from the other wounded, because he was still crying out sometimes in his sleep and it was disturbing them. He was in a corner, near one of the only windows, and Kara sat on the floor with her knees up and her back against the wall beside him. The dog was with her. It was odd. The dog stood between Kara's knees, with her massive head resting in the woman's hands, simply staring calmly into Starbuck's eyes. And Kara stared back. Neither of them moved, except that the dog twitched an ear back when Anders approached.

"Sharon was here before," Kara said, without looking at him. "She said that cylons could never understand why humans kept animals. Like we were trying to prove how like our gods we are by mastering the lower beast. Everything the cylons have has a purpose. The raiders, the basestars, everything. They're like animals. But why do we, humans, just…keep them around? It's not about playing god."

"No." Anders slid down next to her, folding his arms over his knees and leaning his head back against the wall. "It's because we want to trust in something. It's what we have that the cylons don't. We want to bond. We want love and loyalty and trust and codependence."

"And we can't get it from each other?"

"Not always." He smiled. "I think it's because people want too much back. An animal all you have to do is feed it, and be around. And they give. A person, you have to work for it." She only nodded, accepting his explanation without comment. He decided to try a different ploy, working to draw her out. "So how long have you known Captain Adama?" Strange, they had been searching for him all this time and Anders had never learned anything about him.

Kara smiled softly, shaking her head as if she herself didn't believe it. "Ten years, give or take."

"Ten years? You said you only served on Galactica for two?"

"Yeah. Lee never served on Galactica actually. Not before the attacks. He was on Atlantia for a while." Her voice had taken a distant, musing quality.

"So where did you two meet?" Anders was more taken aback by this new development than he cared to admit.

"College. We weren't in any of the same classes, but we lived on the same floor, and we were in officer candidate school together, then flight school. We served on the same base on Caprica for a while, before Lee transferred out…" That had been a tough time. They had not parted on the best of terms then, and she had not seen him again until Zak's funeral. Change the subject. Something lighter. She smiled again. "He gave me my callsign you know."

"What? Starbuck?"

"Mmm."

"Where'd he get it from?" He had actually always been curious about that, and leaned forward to listen.

"You remember I told you I was scouted for the pros." He nodded. "Lee used to tease, that I would never be a C-Buck, but that it didn't matter. He joked that I would play a different game from now on. And anyway, C-Bucks have their feet on the big C, on the ground."

"And you'd be in the stars."

"Yeah. Starbuck. Plus you know we'd get in these big arguments about destiny and the will of the gods. Lee's not the most religious man ever. And he would say that no matter how many times I told him I would do the will of gods, if the stars aligned in a way that didn't suit me… I'd buck them, do my own thing."

"That's a name of many meanings you've go there."

"Yeah. Don't tell many people about that either…"

She was quiet for a while, staring at nothing. It was hard for her, remembering those days. They had been so young, and so _stupid_. Things had seemed so complicated, but so simple, all at once. Not anymore.

"And who gave him the callsign 'Apollo'? Was that you?"

"Mmm. He was always so into his books, used to write poetry in his notes when he thought no one was looking." She laughed, lost in the memory. "You know one time, I actually caught him singing to himself while he was working on his training Viper. Pretty good set of pipes on him. Anyway he was a regular warrior poet, our Apollo. Loved his art and music and philosophy. So…"

"Unusual isn't it? For a pilot to take a god's name like that?"

"Son of Zeus. No one said anything about it."

Lee stirred a little, muttering something unintelligible to himself. How naturally she did it, just reaching her hand up without thinking and laying it on his arm to steady him. Even more remarkable was how well it worked, calming him at once. Anders found himself wondering about these two, about how much had passed between them. He found himself wondering what kinds of things two people had to go through together, to reach such a point of natural ease, and care, and attentiveness. Could anyone else sooth Adama like that? He doubted it. Kara didn't seem to think anything of it.

"You should get some rest," he coaxed. "It's been a rough couple of weeks for you guys."

"Or months."

"Right. Or months. My point stands."

"Yeah."

She made no move to get up though. He couldn't tell if she lacked the will, or the energy. Well, she couldn't sleep here on the floor. She'd get no rest at all and be no use to anyone. Heaving a sigh, he took her by her arm. The dog growled in surprise and scrambled back as he hauled her up.

"Come on Kara. Let's get you to bed."

The look she gave him was probably the most scathing he had ever received from anyone, even in his C-Buck days. Still, she let him lead her down the corridor to the old supply room they had shared during her last visit.

He was glad when the dog didn't follow.

* * *

"Good morning, Captain."

Lee grunted. There wasn't an awful lot about this morning that was good, as far as he was concerned. He had woken with a savage headache, and he hurt everywhere. That could be seen as a positive thing of course; hurt men weren't dead.

"Morning Lieutenant," he croaked.

"Thirsty sir?"

He nodded. Lieutenant Margaret Edmondson, called Racetrack, pushed up from her seat on the edge of his cot and went to hunt up a cup of water. That didn't leave him alone though. Helo was leaning against the wall near him, and Walker was reclined on a pair of chairs at the foot of the cot; ass in one, boots on the other. He had a text book cracked in his lap.

"Catching up… on your reading, Walker?"

"Corporal Walker actually has a pretty good idea, sir," Racetrack chimed in before Walker could respond. She supported Lee up so he could drink, smiling warmly at walker as she did. Something going on there, he thought.

"Nah. Pretty straight forward really. There are a lot of school supplies and book and things here, just left. Resistance isn't getting any use out of them. I'm thinking we can bring some of this stuff back for the kids in the fleet."

"That is a good idea, Corporal." Lee stayed still while Racetrack propped a few more pillows behind him so he could sit up. He felt weird, being doted on like this. But he was so, so tired. It was kind of nice too. "I'm sure, that the president will be pleased."

It came to him suddenly, and he bolted upright without thinking. He immediately regretted it, all the air surging out of his lungs in a rush as he fell back. Dumb Lee. Dumb. But the panic remained.

"Where's Seek?" he demanded.

"Sir?"

"The dog. The dog I was with before…"

"Oh! The Cylon Eradicator." He nodded. "She's out with Starbuck and Sharon." Lee's face paled. Could they not know? Walker hurriedly added, "Don't worry sir. She's doing much better. We've been working on her, with Sharon."

"To keep me from shooting her," Helo said. It was his first contribution to the conversation, and not a pleasant one. It had been a difficult few days for him, watching Sharon deliberately put herself in the path of that animal, driven by some strange fascination with it, with its terrifying response to her presence. She had been bitten a couple of times so far, but kept at it. Couldn't even explain to him why. She just needed the dog to accept her. Fine. Whatever. It wouldn't do to tell Apollo that Starbuck had had to forcibly restrain him several times already, to keep him from putting a bullet in the bitch's head.

As if on cue, Starbuck and Sharon walked through the door, with Seek preceding them. The dog was bristled up a little, with her ears flattened back, but was not growling, or baring her teeth. Her disposition changed immediately when she saw Lee up and talking. The big bushy tail started swinging, and she bounded across the room towards him, flopping half her body up on the cot. He grunted painfully, but grabbed her face in his hands and smushed up her face anyway. In the short time he had known this dog, she had come to mean a great deal to him.

"Hey pup." A long red tongue shot out to kiss his face. "Ick. I know where that's been you know."

Starbuck came up behind the dog, taking her by her collar and drawing her back off the bed. She had seen Lee grimace, and didn't think he needed any more bruises added to his collection.

"'Mornin' Apollo. Good to see you back among the living."

"Starbuck. You're a hard woman to refuse." She hadn't thought he would remember, but his soft smile conveyed his gratitude, and his eyes danced to look at her. They would talk about it later no doubt, Lee being all about the sharing of one's emotions.

Then his eyes flicked to Sharon, standing just behind Starbuck. She was watching him intently, with expression and stance of one waiting for something. And he did not hate her, did not fear her as he should have, after what he had just endured at the hands of her kin. They had tied him up, had cut on him, had said terrible things… And his face inexplicably darkened. It was so sudden and noticeable that Helo pushed off the wall and stood straight, arms crossed, shoulders squared, ready to defend her against some perceived onslaught; though what threat he thought Lee represented was unclear. Sharon's eyes widened. Racetrack and Walker exchanged nervous looks. Kara, for her part, pretended not to notice.

"They were tracking you, you know," she said lightly. "Sharon there found the tracking device imbedded under the skin on your right thigh, right in the bullet wound. You'd think they'd try to hide it better."

"No," he deadpanned. "I'm sure they, wanted you poking around the bullet wounds."

"What do you mean?"

His eyes had not wavered from Sharon. His hands had begun to shake.

"If you guys don't mind, I'd like to talk to Sharon privately for a minute."

"Can I ask why? Sir?" Helo growled.

"No it's alright, Helo," Sharon soothed. Her eyes hadn't left Lee either. In fact, the only people who had spent more time with him since he had been recovered were the medic, and Kara. "I think I know what this is about."

The others weren't happy about leaving. The look on Lee's face would have driven fear into the staunchest heart. All of them had the same scene playing through their minds, or Lee ordering his giant dog to tear out the throat of the cylon they had all come to view as ally, if not trusted friend. Anyway, there were some things Kara wanted to talk to him about now that he was conscious, and some things they would need to know from his time in cylon custody. But if Sharon did not seem bothered about Lee's request, then there was no reason for them to be. Kara shrugged, trying to look more comfortable than she was, than she had been, ever since Lee came here. She pushed herself up from the cot and headed for the door, with the others following along behind her. She would place her trust in Lee, and in Sharon. And she would wait just outside the door.

"You know, what this is about?" Lee said softly, as soon as the others were gone.

"I think so. From when we found Marcel…" With a bullet in his head. Dead center. No other bullets in him.

"They told me…" Lee closed his eyes, leaned back on the pillows. The things the cylons had told him as part of their torture...well he could hardly stand thinking about them. And this...this one thing more than all but one of the others, filled him with rage and fear.

"I know. About the bullet wounds."

He nodded, just slightly. "I was hoping, you would tell me it's not true. But, it is, isn't it?"

Sharon moved around the side the cot, ignoring the threatening growl of the dog as she moved close to him. She had seen the wounds in his shoulder, and in his leg. She had seen the size of the bullet hole in Marcel's head, and how perfectly placed it had been. She knew, that cylons didn't snipe. And she knew that ground forces carried only one caliber of ammunition. And he knew it too, now. But it was harder than she imagined it would be, telling him. She could see the pain on his face even now, before she said a word. And she could imagine the betrayal in his eyes, though they were concealed behind quivering lids. His hands clutched the sheets on either side of his battered body. It had been worse than the beatings, than the torture, them telling him that. Of course that had been _why _they'd told him.

"Yes," she whispered, letting her fingers brush the bandage over his shoulder. He flinched, as if struck, and she felt the emotion well up in her. "It's true."

"Well…" He swallowed, hard. "Frak."


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: I could just be getting defensive, but I would like just to say, so that perhaps the story is easy to read, that I often use incomplete and run on sentences to convey mental state and stream of consciousness to some extent. So for my beloved nitpickers, don't fret about that. Tis supposed to be that way. Also, I'm going back through chapters one and two to correct any typos and grammatical errors. Those chapters will then be reposted. This is my gift to you. Enjoy!

* * *

"You wanna tell me what that was all about?"

Helo was upset. He was more upset than he had any right to be, in truth. He did not have exclusive conversation rights with Sharon. Perhaps, because he was the only one who had really shown an interest in speaking with her up until now, he had settled into the idea. Or perhaps it was because he had noticed her spending so much time in the resistance's sorry excuse for an infirmary, and her apparent interest in Captain Adama bothered him. Whatever the reason, he had pulled her aside as soon as she had emerged from the room, all but oblivious to the stricken expression she wore. He was not threatening necessarily…just worn out and testy. They all were. And it made him sharper than he intended.

"Not really."

Someone who didn't know her better might call her tone casual. But Helo heard the quiver in it. He saw the way her eyes darted about, marking everyone who might be within hearing distance. When she drew back from him and made her way towards a more private area in the yard, he let her go. He felt their eyes on him as he followed. Of course it could not be clearer that Sharon wanted to talk to him privately, and about something that clearly upset her. She had cast all subtlety to the winds, not caring who she snubbed, or if they knew she was snubbing them. And her voice wasn't the only thing quivering; he could see, as he followed along behind her, the muscles tense and shuddering along her shoulders and back. Her fists were clenched.

"Sharon?" he asked. "What's going on?"

She did not answer. Either she did not want to answer out in the open or, which seemed more likely, she did not trust herself to get into whatever it was that was bothering her _at all _before reaching her destination.

The destination turned out to be the corner of the old geography classroom they had been given quarter in for the duration of their stay. No one else was here now. It was early, and everyone preferred being outside during the day, where the memories of those who had passed before them were not so vivid; sometimes even Helo imagined he could hear the students chattering and laughing, the teacher trying to quiet them, the bell ringing. Sharon folded herself down onto the pile of blankets that served as their bed, resting her forearms on her knees with her fingers steepled and her eyes on the floor. She was still shaking. Helo did not know what to say, but it didn't feel right, standing over her like he was. All he could do was position himself on the floor in front of her, and wait.

"Ever since we found Marcel…" she began. Then stopped. No. That's not the way to begin. What was the right way to begin? What could _possibly _be the right way? "You have to understand Helo. I didn't want to mislead anyone. No good would have come from me saying anything. Not then."

"Sharon, I have no…fraking idea what you're talking about."

"I know you don't. I know. And I hoped you wouldn't have to. But the cylons that had Apollo, they did more than just physically torture him. They told him things, things he never should have had to know. That's why he asked to talk to me. He wanted to know if it was true."

She paused. There was no easy way to say this. She had to tread carefully, because if Helo reacted badly he could jeopardize their position here with hardly any effort at all. All he would have to do would be to tell the landing party from Galactica what she was about to tell him, and their entire mission here, the lives lost, the time spent, would have been for nothing. She hoped, prayed, he would understand that. Best, she thought, to begin with the technical drivel first.

"We, the cylons, produce all our own ordnance..."

"We knew that."

"Don't interrupt. Raiders and Basestars are designed to utilize various types of ammunition, to suit different targets. The shells you'd fire at a Viper, or we'd fire, are different from those we'd fire at a battlestar, for example. We have a type of gun, and a type of ammunition for each function."

"Makes sense." Of course it did. She hadn't told him anything yet that he wouldn't have known already.

"Yes. It's also efficient. Our centurions are designed for man to man combat, to destroy humans or their works. Every centurion is outfitted with the same type of gun, which fires the same ammunition, which can be produced rapidly without worrying about making twenty different kinds of bullets, and shipped off to arm the centurions, Raiders, Basestars…" She paused, eyeing him carefully. He wasn't getting it. Or he was, but he wasn't reading between the lines. To him, what mattered was not so much how the cylons were going to kill him, or with what, but only that they were _going _to try to kill him, every time, and he was going to stop them, every time. Binary thinking was supposed to be the bane of _her _people, she thought with exasperation. Ok then. Hit him with it straight. "If the scouting party had been shot up by cylons, then they would have all been shot with only one kind of bullet. The entry wounds would all be the same size."

For a moment, she thought he still hadn't understood. His face had taken on a distant expression. It was one of the things she had come to love about Helo, though it was hardly his best attribute. Once he was started on a puzzle, or dilemma, it sometimes took him a while to figure things out, or figure out where he stood. But once he realized what was going on and made a determination on the subject, he was solid, unwavering. When at last he spoke his voice was deadpan. If "still," or "motionless," were words that could be applied to the human voice she would have used them to describe his. His eyes did not lift from the floor. His chin did not lift from his folded hands, nor his elbows shift off his knees. He, like his voice, did not stir.

"Marcel and Apollo were shot with two different guns. Would human model cylons have been packing?"

She shook her head, realized he wasn't looking at her. "No."

He had expected that answer. He and Kara had been talking about it actually, the night before last. About how Sharon was the only one of the human model cylons they had ever seen travel armed. Doral had brought a bomb on board Galactica, but that wasn't the same thing. He nodded, just slightly. But she wasn't through.

"There's more Helo. Marcel wasn't just gunned down."

"He was sniped." Helo had observed that much on his own, at least. It made her just a little proud.

"That's right. He was sniped. And cylons…don't… snipe." He raised his eyes then. She was coming very close to saying the thing she had only been dancing around so far, and he wanted to be looking in her eyes when she did. For some inexplicable reason, he wanted to read those eyes when the words left her mouth. "Centurions are in for the big kill, take out as many as you can, as quickly as you can. Even when you fought them, just you, did they ever fire just one round at a time? Precision shooting one man is inefficient and ineffective."

"There were a lot more shots fired at the scouting party than just one."

"You heard the same thing I did out there Helo. You heard one shot, followed by many. Not a barrage of shooting all at once." She took a deep breath, looking at him earnestly. "Humans shot Marcel. Humans shot Apollo. They didn't torture him, but they shot him, and they're the reason he was weak, he didn't make it back to us, and was caught. _Humans _are the reason Faustus is dead, and Tallys, and Gavin."

"Faus and Tallys and Gavin were killed by cylons."

"Yeah, but who created the situation? Who's the _reason _it happened? That's what they told Apollo. They told him is own people had tried to kill him. And they weren't lying."

Helo stood up then, abruptly, and began to pace. She knew what he was thinking, could see it all over his face. Strange, how he coped with things in terms of others. And strange how she did, because the same thought had occurred to her. When Starbuck found out about this, she was going to crack skulls.

"He doesn't want us to tell her." Better hit him with it now than later anyway… Helo stopped dead, and spun to face her.

"He doesn't…"

"Says he wants to be the one to say something. We're under orders." She smiled, thinking of the feelings that had coursed through her when Apollo had ordered her to keep silent about everything they had discussed; he hadn't treated her like a cylon then, but as Lieutenant Valerii of the Battlestar Galactica, a pilot under his charge.

"She finds out we kept this from her it'll be _our _asses in a sling."

She shrugged. "Can't be held responsible. He outranks her."

"Yeah," he mumbled. "Because _that's _gonna matter."

* * *

It was a long time, after Sharon left, before Lee could bring himself to open his eyes. A few people had come to visit him, but had all gone away after a little while, because they believed he was asleep. And he had let them believe it. He couldn't deal with anyone, not while he was so angry, feeling so betrayed. He wondered who it had been. He wondered if he had seen their faces and not even known it.

It was Seek who drew him out. She had been left alone here for as long as Lee had been "sleeping," and her patience was wearing thin. Starbuck would be along, no doubt, to take her out and walk her. The two seemed to have bonded pretty well. They had something in common, after all.

But after a while it became clear that, if Starbuck had any intention to return and walk the dog, it would not be soon enough. Seek was whimpering, snuffling at Lee. She even barked once, which startled him; he hadn't often heard her bark, just chuff softly. And growl of course. So, at long last, he opened his eyes to the desperation of her situation. Time to walk the dog.

"You're a jackass you know that don't you?" Blink. "Yeah. Ok."

Getting up proved harder than he had expected. For days, he had made his way through the Caprica forest. He had been injured, but he had stayed on his feet, got up when he was down, kept himself moving forward. But, apparently, after lying on his back stiffening up for a little while, his body was not so inclined to…well, do all that shit again. Someone had left the old man's cane leaning against the wall in the corner. Pretty thoughtfully he thought. He couldn't reach it of course, not from where he was. Aw, what the hell.

"Seek, get the stick." Blink. "Oh come on. I thought every dog knew 'get the stick.' Isn't that…the generic dog command? What about 'fetch?' Do you know 'fetch?'" Blink. "Frak. You have a sense of humor don't you? Smartass." Pushing himself up to a sitting position, and easing his legs over the side of the cot, was effort enough to have him in a cold sweat. "Well you'll have to get me over there, you know that don't you?"

Blink.

Bracing himself on Seek was old hat for him, and her as well. She stood there patiently while he used her bulk as a crutch to get himself to his feet, then gripped her collar to steady himself when he swayed back on his heels. Step by step, and feeling vaguely bad about jerking Seek around so much as he walked, he made his way over to the cane in the corner.

It was easier after that, with both the cane and the dog for support, and his muscles started to limber up some too, as he moved. A few people glanced questioningly at him as he walked by, but he was too focused on every step to even notice, much less heed their concern. He did catch one muttered comment about what Starbuck's reaction would be when she saw him out of bed. He grimaced. Yeah, he would get his ass handed to him, of that there was no doubt. But the dog had to go out, and he had to get up. It wasn't like they could hang around on Caprica forever just because he got himself all banged up. They were under orders from Galactica to deliver the supplies, collect any personnel wishing to be relieved, and return as soon as possible. Lee was not even sure how long they had been down here already, but the fleet had been waiting for them, and would be getting antsy.

One step at a time, he made his way out of the building and into the yard. There was a bench near the door, which he lowered himself onto so that he could sit for a while as Seek ran. It was strange, being here, sitting peacefully, knowing what he knew. Human weapons had shot him, and Marcel. Humans. The very people he had come here to help had gunned down a good, honorable man, who had already sacrificed more in the service of his Colonies than most would imagine in their most feverish nightmares. The scene played through his mind over…and over…and over. They had been standing there, just standing, laughing and joking and watching the setting sun. Then there had been a hole in Marcel's head. And he'd been gone. Just like that.

And humans had done it. Not cylons, their enemy, but humans. Was it these humans, he wondered? Had these men and women who walked and chatted around him now, that fed and sheltered and cared for him, been responsible? He could not know, not unless someone told him. He doubted anyone here would volunteer that information. It wasn't unreasonable to think; it had been dusk, they had been wearing camouflage, and anyone shooting at them from the ravine would probably have only seen their profiles on that ridge. Or maybe there was a cylon infiltrator in the resistance, who had shot first, or encouraged the others to shoot. Could be there was another group of humans out there too…but that seemed less likely.

And it didn't really matter anyway. No matter how he struggled to rationalize it, he couldn't…just couldn't forgive them. Whoever they were. Marcel and Faustus had been good men, two of the very best. They had been men of his ship, warriors of Galactica. And in these last months, with the pressure and pain they had all shared, they had become his brothers. And they were dead. Maybe Faus had been killed by cylons but he wouldn't have been, not if they had been able to just turn around, and return to the rest of their crew. Flying a Viper he had been with men and women when they died. But it was different. When someone got shot down in a Viper you saw the _Viper _die. Maybe you heard the cursing and wailing over the wireless, but you didn't see it. The blood never splattered on your face. He didn't think he would ever get used to it. Didn't think he should.

The dog was across the yard now, chasing between two resistance men who were tossing a ball back and forth, laughing. Neither of _them _were cylons anyway. He was so caught up watching her antics that he didn't notice Racetrack and Landin approaching. They didn't sneak up on him exactly, but he was still startled when they sat on either side of him.

"Damn Cap," Landin chirped. "You know what Lieutenant Thrace is gonna do to you when she sees you out of bed?"

"I've survived a lot worse than Kara Thrace, Corporal."

"Oh no doubt about that, sir. Doesn't mean you'll survive Kara Thrace though."

"No. And it doesn't mean you'll survive Walker either…" Lee treated Landin to devilish grin, pleased to see the other man pale and shoot a startled look in Racetrack's direction. "Does the Corporal know you're out for a stroll with his girl?"

"Sir," Racetrack cut in, with what she probably thought was a casual voice. "There's nothing going on with Corporal Walker. That would be against regs."

"Sure it would Lieutenant. But then so would a lot of things."

They were distracted for a moment by playful shouts from the ball players. Seek had snatched their ball away from them on a bounce and was tearing around the yard with it, running circles around the two men. Lee tried with all his strength not to laugh, since he really didn't think his ribs could take it. Of course Landin and Racetrack had no such reservations; they both practically fell of the bench. Watching Seek's little game, and being with Landin and Racetrack, eased Lee's mind a bit. Yes, he had lost too many men on this mission. Yes, he would carry their names close to his heart for the rest of his life, however long that was. And yes it was by the hands of his kin he had suffered these losses. But there would be time to dwell on that later. Now he would focus on what he still had, and what he had gained. He would let his load lighten, and his heart relax as much as he was able. They would be leaving soon. They would be going home soon.

Except that there was one thing left to do.

He had promised Sharon that he would tell Starbuck about the bullets, about who had shot up the scouting party. He had not understood why it was so important for her to know, or for anyone to know. It could not be changed, and, as he was quickly learning, there was no justice in a jackass universe. But Sharon had assured him that she would have to tell Helo what she knew, if no one else, and that he would insist on telling Starbuck if she could not reassure him that Lee would do so. Even after he had ordered her to keep her mouth shut, she had told him this. Props for honesty at least… Anyway, he wouldn't be able to relax, put it out of his mind, if he didn't get it off his chest. She knew these people. She would be able to reassure him, maybe warn the Resistance of a possible traitor in their midst; though he was beginning to doubt there was such a traitor, since everyone still had their throats as far as he knew.

"Hey. Do either of you know where I can find Starbuck?"

"Yes sir." Landin swiped tears of glee from his face, holding his ribs and fighting down his laughter. "She's at the pyramid court I think. Back between the gym and main buildings."

"Thanks."

He hoped he did not look as weak as Landin made him feel, leaping up to offer the injured captain his arm like he did. He also hoped he did not sound too cold when the thanked the marine for his help. Seek saw him getting up and trotted over to him happily, tail flagging and tongue lolling. He couldn't help but smile. One had to find reasons to smile, in times like these. He took her color with one hand, braced on his cane, and made his way in the direction Landin had indicated.

Not even Lee realized at first, what he meant to say to her. Yes, he was going to tell her what his tormentors, and later Sharon had revealed to him. He was going to warn her of a possible infiltrator in the resistance, or maybe a human insurgency that did not, for whatever reason, want any interference from the fleet. Gods, the more he thought about this the more crazed his notions became. But more than that, he wanted to tell her about his journey. He wanted to tell her about the times he had nearly given up, just curled up and died, but he hadn't, because she wouldn't let him. He hadn't because he had known she would give up everything to find him, and because she always drew him. They were a team, always had been. He would have gone so far as to say soul mates if the notion didn't terrify him so much. And he wanted to badly to tell her… in an offhanded way of course…that he would be dead without her now. And he wanted to thank her.

* * *

Kara Thrace was sitting at the pyramid court, eating what passed around here for food and thinking about the last several days. This had not been how she had thought things would happen. From the time they had been forced to land farther away from the school than they intended, up until, it seemed as though things had gone from bad, to worse. But she knew it only seemed that way. Things were getting better now, anyway. Lee was back, and he would live. That was something. And she had returned to find Samuel T. Anders still alive and kicking. That was something else.

"Hey, is this seat taken?"

Speak of Hades and he appears. She hadn't even noticed Anders' shadow falling over her.

"Nah. Pull up a chair."

He laughed shortly, dropping down on the ground beside her. He looked…very well rested.

"Haven't seen you around today. You been hiding?"

"Nope."

Why didn't she want to talk to him? She liked this guy, didn't she? The feelings were eerily similar to her return to the fleet after her first jaunt to Caprica; Lee had wanted to talk, but she had no words for him. Why? Guilt. The word rose unbidden to her mind. Of course. It was always Guilt.

"Well I guess you guys have a lot to do, getting ready to go back to fleet and everything." He waited. And when she did not reply, "I mean now that you have your captain back and everything. That's it."

"What are you looking for Anders? What do you want me to say?"

"Ha! Well I want you to say that you'll stay. I want you to say that this, all of this wasn't just you following orders and bringing a few supplies down and telling us the fleet is praying for us and taking off our sick and injured. We need you here Kara."

"Could have fooled me. You practically threw me out last time I was here."

"That's crap and you know it! You had a job to do last time. If you had stayed without taking that arrow back you would never have forgiven me."

It was true of course. Her people would be lost. A third of the fleet would have been destroyed, orbiting Kobol and waiting for her to return. And _she _never would have been forgiven.

"I have a mission this time too," she said. More to herself than to him really. He noticed that.

"Yeah and you've done it. Mission accomplished."

"Hardly."

There was no way to explain it to him of course. The bonds of love and loyalty she shared with the crew of Galactica could not be described to someone who had never experienced that culture, that way of being. And her family was there. Or would be there. She knew that if she told Lee she was staying to be with Anders he could go back. It would break him, but he would go, because he would think that that was what she wanted. Dunbass,

"And why am I the one who had to make the big leaps anyway? Why can't you come with us? There'll be room."

"They need me here."

"Right! Frak Anders, I like your spirit but you know you're not making a dent here. You're all going to die, you know that."

"Maybe. But we _are _making a dent. We've it four farms since you were here before, blew them all to hell. And we have another raid coming up. You should be there Kara. _That _was your mission, remember. That was why you wanted to stay before."

"Yeah but I didn't stay did I? I have a duty to the fleet."

"You have duty to the Colonies! Last I looked, _the fleet _is not one of the Twelve Colonies. _Caprica _is." He grunted. "The colony your precious Galactica was built to protect if I'm not mistaken."

"Careful," she growled.

They passed a while in silence. Neither one of them knew what to do in this situation. Which stood to reason, of course, because no one had ever been in this situation before. Part of Kara wanted to stay. No matter what Anders might think of her life in the fleet, things would be a lot simpler here. The pressure would be less. And it would all be over much sooner. Not to mention the fact that she would hardly mind spending the rest of her life wiping every one of those fraking farms of the planet. Still, the planets on which the twelve tribes had made their home thousands of years ago were not, any longer, the homes of the twelve tribes. There could be no denying that. Even if some human life remained, everything that had made the Colonies what they were had been destroyed. Or had fled. How could she justify staying here defending a tomb, when almost everything worth fighting for that was left in the universe was out there, waiting for her.

"Ok," Anders said at last. "Let's…just not talk about this right now."

"Good plan."

"Up for a game?"

The abrupt switch in direction caught her off guard a bit. She just wasn't used to it maybe. Most people she was close to would never leave off such a serious matter so lightly. She arched a brow at him. Whatever. It might be good to vent some of her… whatever she was feeling. She couldn't put names to them, the emotions coursing through her. But then again she hadn't been able to put names to them for some weeks now.

"Sure. But I'm gonna kick your ass."

Lee rounded the corner to the place where he had been told the pyramid court was and stopped up short, drawing himself back behind the corner. It didn't look as though they had seen them. Both of them were focused, into the game. Gods it seemed like ages since he had seen pyramid played. He could not have said why he did not wait her to see him. Most likely he just wanted to watch; maybe to marvel at her a little.

He had arrived just after the start of the game. There was no doubt that these two played hard. Kara slammed into Anders, almost knocking him down, and dodged around him to score the first point of the game.

The two returned to the center triangle, and this time it was Anders who grabbed the ball first. He was making his way to the goal when Kara slammed him hard. The man kept hold of the ball though, spun around her and scored. One to one.

Kara got the ball first next time out but was knocked almost full to the ground and lost her grip when she broke her fall. Anders recovered, and scrambled to slam the ball down in one of the safe zones.

Lee wondered why Kara was so angry. Anders didn't seem to know it, the way he was grinning like that, ribbing her playfully. She returned his teasing with a lot more venom, and wore an intense, focused expression on her face. She was, to Lee's mind, looking at Anders in much the same way she glared at her punching bag when she working out after a particularly bad day. It wasn't hate. You don't hate a punching bag. It was…well wrath he supposed. She had looked at him that way more than a few times before, when he was all that stood between her and righteous fury. Something had her riled. She was playing far more aggressively that usual.

Lee remembered their flight school days, playing pickup pyramid games in the quad. Kara a wiped the floor with all of them. She had been scouted for the pros out of college, though he couldn't really imagine her as a professional pyramid player. She was born with wings it seemed. But she had game, that much was certain. His competition with her in the air had extended to the ball court, and everywhere else in their lives. He remembered days when the other pilots would just back off and watch the two of them; even the senior officers would be standing around sometimes. Even then, they had been well matched. Always, at work or at play, neither had any greater challenge than the other.

Of course this Anders was challenge enough for Kara. He had played pro, and knew what he was doing. But he wasn't playing as angry as she was, which gave her an edge. She really was beating the hell out of that poor guy.

And Anders was loving it. The more passionately she played, railed against him, the more passionate he became. He couldn't help reaching to her, letting a hand trail on her whenever she was close. He couldn't help moving in on her and pressing close to her and didn't seem to notice when she only hit him harder. Anders was getting pretty hot actually, like he had when he had first played her, thrilled with the feel of her, the intensity of his. It overwhelmed him. As she dodged past him once more, he grabbed her around the waste and drew her in, pulling her against him and kissing her fiercely. She could feel his desire, and her fervor, responded to it willingly.

Lee was in shock. Part of him had expected this, the part of him that remembered Kara Thrace as she had always been. But a greater part of him had been convinced that things would be different now, because he understood what he had not before, had gone where he had not been. He rolled back around the corner, grateful for the wall that was his only support. He leaned his head back against it, let his eyes slip shut. He fought to control his breathing, keep from shaking, keep from crying. He knew it was foolish. Lee had no claim over her. None. He never had. But she had been the only thing that had kept him going, and he had thought… he didn't know what he'd thought. That things would be different now, maybe. But there's not justice in a jackass universe.

He grabbed hold of Seek's collar, too roughly, and walked back the way he had come. His body cried out, hating him for the length of his stride and the tension in his muscles. But he ignored it. There was a fire in him, hotly burning away all other pains. It consumed all else. Her face, and Anders,' mixed with Marcel and Faustus and Tallys and Gavin in his mind. Anders' hands on her, and human hands on human weapons. The others saw it on his face when he made his way back to him, saw the way his eyes smoldered.

Lee Adama had never felt more betrayed in his life.


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Note: Chapters 3 and 4 were intended to be one and the same. However, I did not know if you would appreciate another 20 page chapter, so it was split up. Once again, reviews greatly appreciated.

* * *

Kara leaned into the kiss, consumed by the passion that had fueled her furious play, had shaken the core of her. She felt Anders' heat, felt it wash over her as he crushed her against him.

Then, suddenly, inexplicably, Kara Thrace felt her stomach knot. It was a hard twist, like someone had reached into her and jerked her guts around. Her breath caught. With an effort, she put her hands on Anders' chest and pushes, breaking their embrace. Her heart was pointing, her chest heaving, as he was. Her mind was spinning. She couldn't do this. An image sprang unbidden to her mind, a voice demanding hotly, _Why'd you do it Kara? Just tell me why. _Because I'm a screw up Lee, try to keep that in mind.

Oh, frak.

And she stared up at him, her hands still resting lightly on his chest. She stared an expression of passion and confusion, at a man who remained, blessedly silent. She could not have said anything to him. She had no explanation for the force that had overwhelmed her, for the _wrongness _of it. After a long minute, she broke contact with him, withdrawing her hands and her eyes. All she could do was turn, shoulders hunched a little, head angled down, and walk briskly away from him. She very nearly ran, backhanding something that could not have been a tear from her face.

It was a long time before she could return to the more populated areas of the old high school. She found a secluded corner and sat there, staring out a window, trying like hell to work the last few days' events out in her mind. She knew the others would be wondering what had become of her. They would also be wondering when they could get the frak out of here. And she had no answer for them. She no more knew how to leave than she knew how to stay. All she knew at this point was the punching walls was infinitely more painful than satisfying.

When she finally emerged from her little hidey hole she did not have any particular destination in mind. Or at least, not in her conscious mind. That her feet carried her to the infirmary could hardly have been coincidence. She had not seen Lee since that morning, and it would be good to look in on him. Still, she stood for a while in the doorway before going inside. Why was it so much harder to face him now? It wasn't like she hadn't slept with Anders before. It wasn't as if she hadn't gripped Lee tightly upon her return from her first Caprica trip, held him to her with no trace of guilt in her heart. Until he'd kissed her of course…but that was another matter altogether. A simple kiss was hardly the worst of her sins, if it was a sin at all. Finally, loathing herself for her hesitation, she pushed through the door and went inside.

But Lee wasn't there.

The bed he had been resting on when last she'd seen him was neatly made and empty. The cane was gone from its place in the corner, the dog was gone from her place at the foot of the bed.

"Hey. Jackson." She called to the man who was resting on a cot a short distance from where Lee had been. Jackson was not recovering half so well as Lee was, it seemed, but he was conscious. "Do you know where Captain Adama is?"

"Hmm. He's been in and out a few times today. Helo came and got him…hour ago maybe."

Starbuck nodded her thanks, and turned to leave. What did that mean, Apollo'd been in and out? It seemed to imply he'd been up and around all day. Why hadn't she seen him? _Because you were hiding, Thrace, that's why. _

It was a good sign that it was Helo who had come to get him. The two men had been getting along as well as she had hoped they would, in recent weeks. Could be that had something to do with the fact that Lee preferred to shoot at the Sharon-cylon targets at the firing range. It might also have something to do with the fact that no one in the universe could hold a grudge as faithfully as Lee Adama, or that Helo felt threatened, or territorial. It was strange really. On this trip, Apollo and Sharon had been getting along passably well, at least outwardly. That he had prevented his new pet from ripping her throat out had been a good sign. But Helo and Apollo had still maintained something of parameter, hissing like tomcats, the morons. As long as Helo hadn't come to get Apollo so he could use _his _face as a target at the firing range, she would view this as a step in the right direction.

In fact, everyone was coming together these days. Even Racetrack and the Marines had been treating Helo and Sharon with a kind of respect and deference she would not have expected. Well, would not have expected towards Sharon. Helo had been in since the Blackbird was built with carbon plating, at his suggestion. But once or twice she had heard Sharon direct one of them to do something, and heard them respond with "sir." Meanwhile here she was, Starbuck, always one of the best liked and respected pilots on Galactica, now falling out of favor with the crew with each passing day. That wasn't what bothered her though. What bothered her was that she stood here on Caprica, with her shipmates, with two of her best friends left in the universe, with a whole compound full of resistance men and women who viewed her as their comrade, and with Anders, who was impossibly smitten with her, and she had never felt more alone in her life. To which group did she belong? Whose interests was she working to promote. In which were her interests represented?

She found them back at the pyramid court, which, for reasons she did not care to think about, was absolutely the last place she looked. It made sense. Whatever they had going, it looked like the kind of conversation you would want privacy for. Everyone was sitting in a tight semi circle around Lee, except for Helo, who stood against the wall behind the captain with his arms folded, his jaw set, and a grim expression on his face. And Sharon, too, she noticed. The cylon stood a stone's throw away from the others, as if whatever it was Lee was discussing with them was not a subject of which she was a part. She paced a little. Lee, sitting cross legged, leaned forward a bit and spoke earnestly to Racetrack and the marines. He seemed paler than he had been this morning, but not half so pale as his audience. Had she been closer she would have noticed one or two of them shaking.

Starbuck did not stand long unnoticed. Seek, who had been lying down beside Lee, raised her head as Starbuck approached. She chuffed, her tail brushing the pavement, and squirmed a little, but did not get up. Lee was holding onto her, Starbuck noticed. That was pretty smart of him, considering where the big dog's focus had been before she spotted Kara. Maybe _that _was the reason Sharon was keeping her distance.

As soon as Seek alerted, everyone turned to see who was approaching. They seemed jumpy. Seeing her, everyone rose, with Helo offering an arm to haul Lee to his feet, and Sharon drawing closer to the others. There was nothing for it now. Their eyes followed her expectantly as she sauntered into the group.

"Good of you to join us Lieutenant," Lee said. _Uh oh. "Lieutenant" is it? Now what have I… _

"Ah you know me Captain. Hate to miss a party." She indicated the assembly with an absent wave. "What's going on?"

Lee struggled not to grimace. When Helo had come to collect him from the infirmary, he had told him that everyone had been gathered except for Starbuck. No one seemed to know where the Lieutenant was. Lee, who had had his own ideas on that count, had simply said that they would have to meet without her, and brief her later. He knew this had startled Helo; the other man had probably assumed that Kara had already been told. One couldn't blame him for the assumption. Kara _should _have already been told.

In the forty five minutes between the time Helo had brought him here, to where he had ordered that the others gather for their briefing, several things had happened. First, Lee had explained as calmly, and rationally as he could, what he believed had happened on the ledge to him, Faustus, and Marcel. He explained, occasionally calling on Sharon to fill in some of the details, about cylons using only one type of ammunition, and about cylons being creatures of mass destruction, with no use for sniping. The cylons that had tortured him had told him that humans had shot him, and based on what he had seen and learned since then he believed them, and so did Sharon. Racetrack was the only one who had not seemed surprised, but instead wore the grim half-smile of one who has just seen a missing piece fall into place. She had mentioned that the resistance group had turned up at the scene of the fight at pretty much the same time the Galactica landing party had, and that she had thought they were behaving strangely. When asked what she meant by that, she said she had seen one of the resistance fighters lurch behind a tree and vomit; not at all the reaction to death one would expect from a man who had been fighting the cylons for nearly one hundred days now. At this, Landin had piped up, and said he had come across a woman of the resistance in camp that night, sobbing in the arms of another, who was trying to keep her calm and, almost desperately, quiet. Walker then pointed out that no one had actually seen cylons in the vicinity of the fight, or anywhere really for some time. Racetrack had angrily asserted that it was probably the resistance raiding party who had shot up Apollo, and the two marines with him. At this point Apollo had silenced her. He wanted to make it absolutely clear that he did not believe the resistance had fired on them intentionally, if it was them who had fired at all. It had been dusk, and whoever had fired had done so from a fair distance at first, judging by the brief delay between the impact of the first bullet and report of the rifle. Whoever had fired might not have known they were firing at humans. In fact, they probably hadn't. In a situation like that on Caprica it would be very understandable, and justifiable, to shoot first and ask questions later. Helo had nodded just slightly at this, remembering his first encounter with the resistance here.

Sharon and Lee between them had made a few suggestions as to what might cause humans to fire on humans unprovoked. The first, they had not seen, and therefore not realized, who they were shooting at; the second, there was a cylon infiltrator among the resistance who had fired the first shot, or encouraged another to do so; the third, which would have seemed the most far fetched until recently, was that there was another group of humans on Caprica in addition to the resistance who were, for whatever reason, working with or for the cylon occupiers.

Lee's plan of action was simple. Everyone would stay calm, and remain friendly towards their hosts, giving no indication of suspicion or anger. They would be sure to take Seek out frequently, and expose her to everyone in the compound. They would also take special care that anyone wishing to return to the fleet with them be screened using Sharon and the dog. Ops on Caprica were to be completed and brought to a close. It was vital that they return to the fleet as soon as possible. Any questions and reports were to be brought to Apollo directly. At this, Helo had shifted uncomfortably, not liking the idea of excluding Starbuck. He had just made up his mind to insist that she be briefed as well, and as soon as possible, when she had appeared around the corner.

"We were making plans to pull out." He said it matter-of-factly, eyes searching for her response. His heart burned. He would pull no punches here.

"Already? We just got here."

"We've been here almost two weeks."

"Sure. Pulling ourselves together. We haven't accomplished much."

Lee's face was hard. Part of him knew that she hadn't meant it the way it had sounded to him, but the greater part could not help but wonder why saving his life could not be enough.

"Our mission here was not to save the whole fraking planet, Starbuck. We were to bring supplies to the people fighting here. We've done that. We were to take anyone who needed or wanted to come back to the fleet with us when we returned, and as soon as we secure a transport, we can do that too."

"They need us here, Captain. We came here to help these people."

"We have helped them! And we lost four good men to do it. Now the fleet is waiting for us. They're vulnerable to a cylon attack every minute they stay in the same place. We have to go."

She was quiet for a moment. Of course she had known that they would have to leave, and soon, but making plans to go with the immediacy Lee was implying took her by surprise. She wasn't ready to go, she realized. She felt like there was so much more to do.

"They're planning a raid within the next few days," she ventured, looking to Helo for support. "There's a Farm outside Caprica City. They could use some experienced military backup. Another week, tops."

"What the frak's a Farm?" Racetrack asked.

Starbuck had no idea how or why the Resistance had kept knowledge of the Farms totally to themselves in the time the Galactica crew had been among them. Well, she had _one _idea. Anders had ordered it, waiting for her to give him some indication that it was a subject they could speak about freely. Only a very few people knew what Starbuck had gone through on her last visit to Caprica; _she _had played _that _pretty close to the vest.

"It doesn't matter," Apollo growled. "Look, Starbuck, we're not here to fight. I know it's hard. Believe me when I tell you I would like to personally junk every fraking toaster on this planet. I hate what they've done to my home. I hate that most of my family and friends died here. We all do. But this is not our mission. We do not have the manpower or the supplies to support an insurgency. And even if we did, we _have _to return to the fleet as soon as we can, or everyone who is left there will die."

"Or leave us," Shields muttered.

"No, you look, Lee. Our _mission _is to defend the Colonies. That's what we all swore to do. These people, these people that we left here, fight and die every day against the cylons." She ignored the angrily muttered "and we don't," from Walker, and the offended glares from the others. "As long as we are here it is our _obligation _to help them in whatever way we can. The Commander knew that. That's why we're here."

"No! Lieutenant, we're here on a recovery mission! You got us into this, Kara. We all came here because we believed we owed it to these people to support them as much as we could. But every one of us dying…never going _home_… was _not _part of the deal."

"Do you even hear yourself? Lee, we _are _home! _Caprica is our home!_"

"No, it's not." His voice dropped, taking on a deadly calm. "Everything that made this place home is dead. Every_one _who made this place home is dead. Our family, our tribes, are waiting for us to jump back to them so we can get the hell out of the system and go find Earth. This," he made a sweeping gesture, "these planets, are not the Twelve Colonies anymore."

For a long time, no one spoke. It was a harsh truth, what Lee had just spoken, but they had all felt it. Ever since that first day they had landed, Caprica had ceased to feel like home for most of them. It was hostile place, a place of death, and they had all grown homesick in their hearts. In part, they wanted to return to Caprica as it had been, and to the people who had made it what it was. But mostly, they wanted Galactica. They wanted their duty lockers and their racks. They wanted bad food, abrupt medical attention, co-ed showers, and their one and only change of clothes. They wanted the evening card game. Hell, they would have even welcomed their fifteen hour rotations. This was not where they belonged. It had not been for nearly one hundred days.

The verbal duel between Starbuck and Apollo had escalated to the point of shouting, and their shouting had begun to attract attention. Anders, and several others, made their way towards the pyramid court to investigate. It did not take a genius to realize that Kara was the odd man out, so to speak, in a very volatile situation. Even Helo had not risen to her defense, though it was taking all his effort to keep silent. Anders, after a brief hesitation, strode up to stand beside her. Lee darkened. Kara averted her eyes.

"Everything ok, Kara?" Anders asked. If he thought he was going to stare down Lee Adama, he had quite another thing coming. Seek, whose collar was still held firmly in Lee's grasp, growled softly.

Kara didn't respond.

"Of course, Lieutenant," Lee said, his voice low, dark, and dangerous, "we all realize that you have reasons of your own for wanting to stay."

He held Anders' glare with equal force for several minutes longer, and when the other man's gaze broke, Lee turned, without another word, and walked away. He looked like someone had replaced his spine with an iron rod. Racetrack and Walker followed immediately on his heels, with Landin helping Shields along after only a moment's indecision. Sharon and Helo hesitated. They would have stayed with Starbuck, but Sharon had no love for Anders and his resistance. She did not know what made her angrier: that they had gunned down members of the fleet, the service she loved, unthinkingly, or that they had thought they were gunning down her people. Probably the former. She had long since grown accustomed to the idea of humans killing cylons. She was even becoming tolerant of the idea that her face was one of the ones on the targets at the firing range on Galactica; the crew had to desensitize, in case they ever faced one of her kind less friendly towards them, she understood that. She doubted though, that she would ever grow accustomed to the senseless killing of which the humans seemed so fond. Shooting down an ally without thought, or apparent remorse, enraged her. Looking Anders up and down with a disdain that surprised even her, she turned as well to follow Apollo. With an apologetic look to Starbuck, Helo went with her.

Few things in her life had hit Kara Thrace as hard.

* * *

They did not return to the infirmary, or anywhere else where they were likely to encounter men or women of the resistance. The landing party from the Battlestar Galactica wanted to be alone, with each other, trusted family in a den of thieves. That's what it felt like, anyway. They knew these people were their kin, and their allies as well. But that didn't make it any easier to be here, nor did they feel any safer, when they saw Apollo and Shields all fraked up like they were and knew the reason why. So they went to one of the rooms that had been given to them for quarter. Walker, Landin, Shields, and Racetrack shared it. No one else stayed here.

Apollo sat away from the others, on the edge of Landin's cot, his head in his hands. He had been operating purely on autopilot, it seemed. His brisk, military bearing into which he had retreated had melted away. The others stood in a huddle talking quietly, trying like hell not to look at him. It was difficult, seeing their captain, the CAG, son of Zeus, broken like that. Helo and Sharon stood apart as well, not in the huddle with Racetrack and the marines, but on the opposite end of the room.

Helo was furious.

"She's not the enemy, dammit," he hissed. "And she's not wrong. We should destroy every one of those fraking farms while we have the chance."

"There are more you know. On the other Colonies."

"It doesn't matter! We should be fighting for those women."

If the room had been big enough to allow it, and keep their conversation private, he would have paced.

"He doesn't know."

"What?"

"Apollo. She never told him about the Farms. She never told anyone."

"He didn't want to know."

"I'm saying he's doing what he feels is right, and he hasn't been given a reason to think otherwise."

"What, you think we should tell him?"

"No. Not now. He wouldn't hear."

The dog, sitting in front of Lee, whimpered and put a paw on his knee. He didn't move.

"Gods, this whole thing has really fraked him up."

"It's fraked everybody up. We should never have come here." She looked at Apollo with a sad, almost pitying expression on her face. Strange. She was the one who was a prisoner, for all intents and purposes, hated by those she lived among, hunted by those closest to her. But she felt so much worse for him than she felt for herself. "It will always be hard for them."

"What? Who?" Helo was distracted, and still angry. He had only half heard her.

"Them. Apollo and Starbuck. I don't think they'll ever be able to deal with each other. On the same level they deal with everyone else, you know? Some people can't face the truth unless the issue is forced." Helo certainly hadn't been able to. He had shot her, been ready to push her away, disavow her completely, until Starbuck had challenged that, and when the chips were down, Helo had finally understood.

"What are you talking about Sharon? What issues?"

She did not answer.

Lee raised his head then, resting it on his fists and staring out the window. His face was drawn, worn, older looking.

"Sharon," he said softly. "Helo."

They did not hesitate to go to him. "Sir?"

He was silent for a moment, and did not look at them. Helo guessed that if they had hit him across the shoulders with a large stick just then, it would have shattered.

"Sir," Helo ventured, when Apollo didn't speak. "About the Farms. There's something you should know."

"I know about the Farms, Lieutenant," Apollo said softly.

Sharon and Helo both were taken aback by this revelation. This was unexpected. With Helo's furrowed brow as evidence of his incomprehension, Sharon's face opened with realization. The cylons who had tortured him had told him about the bullet wounds, and that the humans had probably shot him. How much more would it have tortured him to know what they had done to Starbuck, what they would do if they caught her again? How much did he know, then? What else had he been hiding from them?

"I want you two to begin the next phase of the mission. You will go with whatever supplies you need and recover a transport, like we discussed before we came." Helo opened his mouth to object. "I'm not done yet Helo. You will get a heavy Raider and bring it back here. We'll load up the raiding party and participate in this little adventure to Caprica City."

And the surprises just kept coming. Helo and Sharon exchanged a second round of startled glances.

"It will be purely voluntary," he went on. "Those who do not wish to go will stay here and pack up everyone and everything we're taking back with us, so that it can be loaded easily on our return. It'll be faster to fly than walk or drive, and Caprica City's quite a hike from here. After the raid, we come back here, load up, and head home."

"_We _come back? That mean you're going on the raid too, sir?" Lee just nodded. He still had not looked at them. Not the entire time he had been talking. _What's in your head? _Helo wondered. "Due respect, sir, but you're in no condition to go on any op."

Lee grunted. "Thank you for your concern, Helo."

"Are you trying to get yourself killed, sir?" He had meant it to sound like a challenge, when he'd asked him, but the question had come out with more than a little genuine concern.

Apollo did not respond.


	5. Chapter 5

_**"You are doing yourself violence. Violence my soul. And you will have no second occasion to do yourself honor." Marcus Aurelius Antonius**_

Kara stood back against the wall of the school, where she was fairly sure the others could not see her. She had not been standing here long, and didn't mean to be. But for now, just for a moment, she wanted to watch them while remaining unobserved.

Lee was on his feet, again, which chafed her. He should have been in bed, letting his muscles knit. But if he wanted to be a moron that was not her problem. He seemed to be in close conference with Walker, pouring over a sheet of paper the marine had handed him, and pointing occasionally. The other marines stood back a short distance, listening intently and awaiting instructions. They had only just gathered here about half an hour ago, or so Anders had told her. He had also mentioned that no one had seen Helo or Sharon this morning, and Starbuck did not see them here. She didn't see Racetrack either, incidentally. Or Seek. It was strange, seeing Lee without his shadow, and stranger still to think that the dog had become such an indelible part of their captain in the short time she'd been with him. It was like seeing Lee without an arm, and noticing that it was really weird that he would have had three arms before now.

Kara knew the reason for her hesitation, knew why she did not want to approach them yet. It was the same reason she had avoided Lee before now, only now it would roll off her. She would stink of it, at least to Lee's senses. And she knew it.

She had spent last night with Anders, and utterly ravaged him. Her body still ached. It had been very, _very_ angry sex, and he had known it. He hadn't said anything about it though, thank the gods. He had also been gone when she woke up in the morning. That had suited her fine too. She hadn't really wanted for face him. It wasn't as embarrassing as the Baltar incident, but it had been just as obvious, as far as she was concerned, that her head at been somewhere else. When he had come to find her, to tell her several members of the Galactica landing party seemed to be up to something in the center yard, he had not mentioned it. He had not, in fact, mentioned anything to her at all, about anything at all, other than several members of her crew were meeting in the center yard. She did not know where he was now. She just knew that she had made no secret at all of the fact that she was going to sleep with him last night, and that Lee would probably know it the second she walked up to him. _Bastard always knows. _

_So what if he does? I don't owe him a damned thing._

With a growl in her heart and as casual an expression as she could manage on her face, she pushed off the wall and out of the shadows. Had they been on Galactica, or in any other situation really, she would probably have avoided him. She would have thrown herself into her work, gone over his head to keep from having to confront him. Why did she do that? She could not have said. Which is not to say she didn't know…but she could never, _ever _have said.

Landin marked her when she was no more than halfway across to them. Then Shields, then Walker. Lee's back was to her though. If he noticed the marines stiffening to an uneasy attention he gave no indication.

"I'm wondering if we can dig up some more advanced math and science texts," he was saying. "We're going to need engineers more than poets I think." He glanced sidelong at her when she drew up beside him, then back down at the manifest. "Good morning, Lieutenant," he said stiffly. "Sleep well?"

_Oh you _bastard.

"'Morning, Captain. Packing to go without me?"

"Not at all. We were just getting some school supplies to take back to the fleet. Corporal Walker's idea."

Walker practically beamed. The awkwardness of the situation not withstanding, he was a man who knew how to be proud when called upon.

"We should look in the science labs too. Might be something in there we can use."

Lee nodded. He had probably already thought of that, though even if he hadn't, he would not tell her. Not in his present mood. He ran through his list for what was probably the hundredth time, checking off a few items as he went. Many items were checked off already, and a sizeable stack of boxes had been assembled a few feet away. How long had they been at this? If they had been here only half an hour, as Anders had said they must have been working with insane speed. That did not seem likely.

"Ok," Lee said, looking up from his list. "We've cleaned out most of the classrooms of what was left. Now let's hit the school library. Anything that hasn't been used as toilet paper will be useful."

"Yeah," Landin grunted. "Since I doubt we'll have any printing presses up for a while."

"Or anyone composing sonnets," Shields put in.

"Hardly been a time for the poetical, that's sure."

"Come on guys, let's stay focused here. We've got quite a few history texts, but we'll want find more specific works, maybe some first person stuff if we can get it. Look for any engineering, biology, physics books you can find. Classical literature and art would be good too. Grab some story books for the littlest kids, but mainly we want anything that could be a useful training resource." He flashed a grin. "Leave the romance novels on the shelves."

"They allow those in schools, Cap?"

"Not in ours."

"Oh I don't know, Apollo," Starbuck quipped. "People need all kinds of education."

"Didn't know you were one for book learning, Starbuck. Practice makes perfect, right?"

And, that quickly, the tension settled over them again. Lee shifted a little, angling his shoulders away from her. Landin, Walker, and Shields made a great show of checking the boxes that had already been brought out, as if to see that they had not missed anything.

"If you have something to say Lee, say it." Definitely a different strategy than she had employed last time, but then since that particular incident had ended in an abbreviated fist fight, it might be time to rethink her tactics.

Lee turned, facing her directly for the first time since she had approached. He looked drained. And there was something else, something she couldn't quite place. And when she did, it scared her in away she could not explain. Lee Adama looked resigned, as if to a fate he had made peace with. He leaned heavily on his cane, and even the act of lowering the hand that held the manifest to his side seemed to unbalance him somewhat. His eyes hit hers with the force of death. She was not sure she had ever seen him so cold. Not even in the hanger deck, when she had tried to tell him she was sorry… Not when he had tried to kill Sharon. Never, in all the years she had known him.

But he didn't say anything. He just stared at her, let her read what she would from his gaze. There was nothing he could say, after all. This was not the place, and now was the not the time to get into their issues. Lee knew where Kara had been last night. And it didn't matter. No one could have been more shocked to realize this than Lee Adama, rest assured. Still, with everything he had been through, and with everything he would no doubt see before the end, this one, final blow had hardly fazed him at all. It had only served to confirm what he had to do now, and a steely resolve had settled over him like a pall.

"Sir?" Landin ventured carefully. "I'm sorry sirs, but we don't have much time."

Lee nodded stiffly, and turned. He left a very confused an annoyed Kara Thrace at his back. Had that only been a ploy to rescue one or the other from their little showdown? It must have been. Starbuck could not imagine what could possibly be so pressing, that Landin thought they did not have time to stand for a few minutes and stare each other down. She knew they all wanted off Caprica, but she had not been given any set time or date for leaving. She had not, for that matter, decided definitively that she was going with them.

Lee joined the marines for a perplexingly hurried conference. She could not hear what was said, but could clearly see that they all looked strained. They reached an agreement on whatever issue they were discussing, and Lee headed off across the yard, back towards the playing fields. Shields addressed Starbuck, mercifully, because listening to him made it easier to avoid watching Apollo walk away.

"We're going up to the library now, sir, if you'd like to join us." He smiled, indicated his arm, which was still suspended in a sling. "We  
could use another strong _pair _of hands."

* * *

It's interesting, the labels we apply to ourselves. It's interesting how we grow into them, define ourselves by them. And it's interesting how easily those archetypes shift as our lives warp and twist with the years.

For example, Margaret Edmondson, Lieutenant of the Colonial Fleet, had always been a cat person. When she was a little girl, she had begged for kittens instead of puppies or ponies. She had snuck a stray cat into her dorm while in college, and gotten hell for it when one of her floormates reported her. She had had three cats of her own, which had stayed at her parents' house while she was on a cruise, and of which she kept pictures in her locker, right alongside Mom and Dad. Anyone who met her could guess immediately where her affinity lay; she fit the stereotype perfectly.

And now here she was, standing in the old playing fields at the Delphi Union High School, very much a dog person. She did not really understand how it happened. These things, it seemed, came about strictly of their own design. To say nothing of the fact that the shift had been as dramatic as it had been abrupt. This was no fuzzy little puppy she held at the end of the leash. Seek weighed one hundred and fifty pounds easily, and Racetrack had heard from Landin and Shields that this shepherd-malamute type dog could tear apart a cylon as if it were…well, a kitten.

Hell of a way to cut one's teeth on dogs.

Racetrack had left the others about an hour ago, at Captain Adama's order, to walk the dog around the compound. Begging out of any offense she might take, the captain had said that a pretty, amiable woman is always approachable, and would diffuse any unease an intimidating dog like Seek might cause. Racetrack was to be friendly and open, chatting idly and engaging in any social opportunities that might present themselves. If Seek had any kind of adverse reaction, to anyone at all, under any circumstances, it was to be reported immediately.

It was an easy job; even a pleasant one. She was out and about meeting new people (which after just about one hundred days on Galactica was refreshing in its own right) and playing with a dog while the others were engaged to various degrees in difficult or dangerous undertakings. She had felt guilty about that at first, but the feeling had subsided as soon as she realized that, of all of them, she was the one most likely to encounter a hostile cylon.

That had deflated the mood somewhat.

The playing fields had been mostly empty. They were the most exposed areas of the compound, with no walls between them and the cylon threat beyond. Though the cylons did not patrol this area frequently, no one was willing to call them to task by hanging around in the open unnecessarily. The only people she found out there were sentries, posted behind file cabinet barricades at regular intervals along the perimeter. They had been happy to chat with her, and even happier to see Seek along, but had gently chided her for risking herself and sent her back to the compound. Which was fine. As much as she liked these guys, she had no desire to hang around in the open any longer than was necessary to confirm none of the guards were cylons.

She was just walking back toward the library to make her report when she saw Apollo approaching. Seek strained against the leash, chuffing softly in that way she had, furiously wagging her big fluffy tail. The grim expression melted from Apollo's face. He nodded a greeting at Racetrack, and lowered himself to a knee to accept the big dog's head in his chest and ruffle her fur playfully. That had to hurt him, playing with her like that. The dog, of course, did not understand that her friend was cut, and bruised, and abused on pretty much every surface of his body. Cracked ribs mean nothing to a dog. The bullet wound in his shoulder, though it was healing fairly, and inexplicably, well, must have been screaming. But the captain welcomed Seek's greeting anyway. He would not have been able to explain to Racetrack, if she had asked him, how pain dealt by love was as much a salve for him right now as anything the medics could have given him. It brought him back into his body, back into his head.

"No cylons I take it?"

"No, sir. Not so far." Racetrack handed the leash back to him, though he had not asked for it. There was no doubt in anyone's mind to whom the dog belonged, and Seek looked more comfortable in Lee's care away. He used her to brace as he pushed himself to his feet. "How's the op going, sir?"

"Operation Homework?" he said with a brief chuckle. "Fine. They're in the library now, scavenging. We should have everything we're going to take with us ready to pack up by this afternoon."

With a slight nod of his head, he indicated that she should follow as he turned and made his way back the way he had come. He still walked slowly, but was as solid on his feet as anyone could have expected. She shortened her stride to stay alongside him, marveling that the dog seemed to know to do the same.

"So far we're on schedule," Apollo said. "If acquiring the Raider goes as smoothly as Sharon seems to think it will, she and Helo should be back by tonight."

"I don't understand that," Racetrack said, shaking her head. "We're assuming the cylons have the Raider we came here on, and we know that they know we're here. So what makes her think it will be so easy to steal another one right out from under the toasters' noses?"

Lee shrugged…wincing immediately thereafter. "I don't know, Lieutenant. Maybe because it makes so _little _logical sense. She assumes that they'll assume that she'll be more reasonable than that, because she's a toaster too."

"And machines are supposed to operate on logic."

He nodded. It made a twisted sort of sense. And if Sharon thought she could do it…well, she'd never failed to play her part before.

* * *

Sharon was taking her leap of anti-logic to greater extremes than even Apollo would have guessed. Not only was she going after a heavy Raider, but she was going after the exact same heavy Raider that they had come here in.

"But _why?_" Helo demanded, dogging along on her tireless heels.

"Because they won't expect us to," she answered simply. "Anyway, it'll be easier. That one already knows us."

Which was true. Interesting thing about that Raider was that, with Sharon at the helm, they had not had to kill it to use it; the thing had simply obeyed Sharon. The commander had been as close to furious as anyone had ever seen him in public when he found out that a _live _cylon Raider had been sitting, quiet and undisturbed, on the Astral Queen since Starbuck, Sharon, and Helo had returned from Caprica. There had been some concern that the Raider would turn on them, somehow activated by other cylons when a basestar, or other Raider, was nearby, or by other cylon agents in the fleet. Sharon's assurance that she had taken steps to prevent that had not done much to assuage anyone's fears, but at least they hadn't killed the thing. Starbuck had named it Joe, which for some reason Sharon had found infinitely amusing.

"This is insane. What even makes you think it will still be there?"

"It will be."

"Gods woman you're impossible."

"Don't swear."

They took a break around midday, which, for reasons Sharon could not quite grasp, seemed to be the default time for humans to rest. She was not tired of course, but she had been pushing Helo pretty hard. In truth, she had no way of knowing Joe would be where they had left it. She was, however, all but positive that the cylons on Caprica would have found the Raider; she had not been joking when she had told them that they would have to move away from the ship as soon as possible upon landing. But her strategy here was to make the boldest, most illogical moves possible, and returning to their landing site to find the ship they'd flown in on, wrest if from the hands of their enemies, and fly it back to the Delphi Union High School, which they hadn't been able to fly it into in the first place, seemed to fit the bill. Besides, she liked Joe.

Based on a map they had… liberated from a resistance scout, and a general bearing they had supposed based on the direction the resistance party had been coming from when they met them on the ridge and the direction they had traveled to get to the school, they were able to plot a decent overland route. They made good time too, because Sharon never slowed and Helo did not like being shown up. Helo guessed it to be about fifteen hundred hours when they arrived at the landing site. It was strange, and painful, to think about how close to the resistance base they had actually been when their scouting party had fallen under attack.

They kept their distance, crouched low in the shadowy underbrush and taking stock of the situation. As they had guessed, the cylons had in fact found their landing site. That was not the amazing thing. The amazing thing, the thing that wiped all words and coherent thought clean out of Karl Agathon's head, was that Joe was still there.

The cylons had been tinkering with it. There were four centurion here and two human model cylons: a Doral, and a Sharon.

"They're trying to trick it," Sharon whispered, a touch of pride in her voice. "They want it to think that's me."

The other Sharon was talking to the Raider, running her finger tips down the length of it, murmuring sweetly. Nothing. Joe was not fooled. There was evidence that they had been fiddling with its hardware as well; a panel had been removed, and there were some scorch marks on the back end that had not been there before. Apparently they had had some difficulty getting Joe to open wide for the doctor. How long had they been working at it, trying to fix whatever Sharon had done? What _had _Sharon done?

"If they can't fix it, they'll destroy it," Sharon said. "We have to move quickly."

"Well if they haven't killed it already I don't think a few more minutes will make much difference. What's the plan?"

"Kill them all, get our ship back." She flashed him a mischievous grin, loving how appalled he was.

"Gods Sharon tell me you have a better plan that _that._" They were, after all, two facing a force of six.

"Just follow my lead."

They would want to take the other Sharon out first if it came to that, just in case Joe _was _getting a little confused and was just being stubborn. Hopefully, though, it wasn't, so that neither of them would have to do it. It would be difficult for Helo, shooting Sharon down, just as it would be strange for Sharon to shoot herself. Damn near impossible actually, on both counts.

She and Helo were both well armed, and had the element of surprise on their side, but without Joe to help them this could shape up to be a downright ridiculous fight. Maintaining their distance, Helo and Sharon carefully made their way around towards the other side of the ship, closer to the rear hatchway. The cylons were mostly at the front end, except for one centurion standing on the ramp in the back. Sharon allowed herself a slight smile of satisfaction. If they moved quickly, and all went as she planned, this would be disgustingly easy. Anti-climactic almost, which she could live with.

She met Helo's eyes, counting down on her fingers…

_Three. Two. One._

The two of them leapt out from cover, sprinting at the Raider as fast as their legs could carry them and concentrating all their fire on the centurion standing on the ramp. They downed it, but the centurions at the front had zeroed in on them and were striding towards the back, guns ablaze.

"Helo!" Sharon barked. "Move!"

Shouting at him had been reflex. He was right on her heels. The human model cylons had moved around to watch the fight, though they themselves stayed back out of it. Doral's face was, as ever, impassive, while Sharon looked fascinated, and a little anxious. The centurions were shooting at her pregnant doppelganger after all.

Helo and Sharon were on the ramp in almost the same instant. Helo turned to continue firing at the centurions, ducking back as close to the edge of the hatch as he could get. Sharon ran towards the front.

"Joe!" she called. "Close the door!" For the span of half a heartbeat, Joe hesitated. But no longer. Too slowly, the ramp began to rise. She could hear the ship powering up. "Take off!"

With the ramp still half-way up, the Raider began to rise. Without being asked it began firing at the centurions and human model cylons that had been banging and tearing and enticing it for the last several days.

Helo staggered a little as the deck pitched beneath his feet, recovering quickly and heading towards the bow. He was breathy and exhilarated from battle, and impossibly confused. How had that even been possible?

"Sharon. What did you…How did you…?" It was no use. He was still out of breath.

She smiled. It had been Starbuck who had, unintentionally, given her the idea, though she had not been at all sure it would work. She had not been sure of anything, not one thing, all day. But when she had seen the Raider still parked where they had left it, had seen that they other cylons could not get it to move, she had realized that, impossibly, her crazy notion had worked. Strange that, as advanced as the cylons were, humanizing them gave them their greatest power.

"Before we left," she explained to her dumbfounded lover, "I told Joe not to move for anyone unless they knew his name."

* * *

The afternoon had passed pleasantly enough. Lee had not been around much, so she had only had the marines to deal with. They were a good group of men, naturally easy-going, and she enjoyed their company. Several hours had been spent in the library, pouring ravenously over precious books they had read in their school days, laughingly asking each other if they remembered certain stories. Funny how much a chore reading seems to be when you're in school, but every book is like a treasure when you've thought you'd never see it again.

They had had to pick and choose their titles of course. That, as it turned out, was the hardest part. The library at the Delphi Union High School had been well stocked, and _ten _heavy Raiders would not have taken all of the books. They packed as much as they could into whatever boxes and sacks they had found, stacking the books with loving care. They took some of the magazines too, to remember life as it had been. The idea was to take as much as they could conceivably fit into a heavy Raider, while leaving room for any passengers.

Carrying everything down to the yard and stacking it up took much of the afternoon. Anders and several of his resistance, including all that remained of the vaunted Caprica Buccaneers, turned up to help them organize and tote. Starbuck worked easily with Anders, though it was impossible for her to put her confusion and anger totally out of her mind. A playful banter started up between the Resistance men and woman and the Galactica crewmen. Starbuck did sense a self-possessed undertone from her people, but _that _she could ignore. Something about working, about providing something to those who don't have it, offering something only you can give, brings a joyful pride out of the hearts of men.

Starbuck could not relax totally into the spirit of the afternoon though. Racetrack had returned a little while after the library skimming had begun (what the marines called Operation Homework), but Lee had not reappeared, and she still did not see Helo or Sharon. Their absence was made more suspicious by the fact that Racetrack and the marines seemed to be going out of their way _not _to call attention to it. Not only did they refrain from verbally wondering where the missing three were, but they did not make mention of then in _any _context. The most she heard was Racetrack telling Walker that she had completed the south side and the playing fields, whatever that meant, and that the captain would finish the rest of the compound. By the time they had finished carrying everything they intended to take with them out into the yard, Kara was burning with curiosity. She did not ask though. If they were not telling her what was going on, then asking them would only be begging for a lie. She would not put them in that position, having been in it too many times herself.

They were all sitting around in the yard, leaning against the boxes and satchels, sipping bottles of water and chatting with the restrained amiability that seemed to be the order of the day, when Lee finally appeared.

"Good of you to join us Captain!" Landin called playfully. "Now that all the heavy lifting's done!"

"Sorry Lan," Lee replied lightly. "You know what they say about a good commander. He can go away for a few hours, kick back, and know that his men'll get the job done just as well without him." He had that tone, that not quite patronizing air, with a cockeyed half-smile and a dance in his eyes.

"Due respect sir, officers came up with that line to get out of doing the real work!"

"I don't doubt it."

Lee did not offer any further explanation for his absence, and they did not press him. _Why should they?_ Starbuck thought bitterly. _I'm the only one here who doesn't know where he's been. _

That wasn't strictly true, though Starbuck had no way of knowing otherwise. Anders had been keeping tabs on the gallant captain of the Battlestar Galactica for some time. Apollo's heated duel with Starbuck the previous evening had only confirmed Anders doubts about the man. That he had been captured, apparently interrogated by the cylons, and simply released hardly counted in his favor, anymore than his apparent desire to exclude Starbuck from his recent dealings. If last night was any indication of the level of Kara's feelings on the matter of Captain Lee Adama, he could expect hell for taking the liberty, but he did not feel safe with his man in _his _house, unobserved.

It did not take a genius to figure out what Racetrack had been doing all morning, and Adama had been doing all afternoon. Anders had been there, at the service station. He had seen the way the dog reacted to cylons, and knew that Adama was screening his people. It was all Anders could do to keep from confronting him right then and there, demanding what right Apollo thought he had being suspicious of good men and women who fought every day against the cylons. But he held his tongue. Not that it mattered. Lee could see the animosity practically radiating out of the other man's eyes.

"A question for you Anders," Lee said. All conversation stopped when he spoke. That he had addressed Anders directly was not half as surprising as the question was. "When did your people plan to go on this raid of yours?"

"Couple days." Anders reply was careful, measured. Kara had told him what Apollo thought about the raid, and about it interfering with their timetable for leaving Caprica. "It'll take some time to organize and supply. Caprica City's no afternoon stroll, and we've lost a lot of our trucks."

"Hmm." Lee's gaze took on a distant look, his jaw working back and forth as he mulled something over. Starbuck noticed Racetrack and Walker exchanging significant glances, while Landin watched Lee attentively and Shields watched the dirt. Finally, Lee said, "Do you think you could push it up a few days?"

"Well I just said we're going in a few days. You want it pushed up to when?"

"Tomorrow."

Anders practically choked on the swig of water he had imprudently taken just then. _Gods does this guy have some screws loose. _

"I don't think so," he said when the coughing had subsided. "Like I said we have to organize our raiding party, get our supplies together. Then there's just getting there…"

"If getting there _wasn't an issue_. Could your people be ready to go by morning?"

"Where are you going with this Lee?" Starbuck cut in. She was beginning to add all of this up now, and was not sure if she liked the sum.

"Yeah I guess we could be." Anders, on the other hand, was getting interested despite himself. "What do you have in mind?"

"My people have to get back to the fleet," Lee said simply. "We can't wait a few days, then hike more days overland to Caprica City, fight, maybe lose some people, and hike back. But we should strike a solid blow for the Colonies while we're here. And we are _not _leaving anyone behind." He let his eyes skip briefly to Kara. Whether or not she herself had decided she was staying behind to clean up the Farms, Lee seemed to believe she would.

"So, what? You'll come with us if we leave tomorrow morning? What difference is a few days gonna make?"

"None," Lee said.

The timing was almost theatrical, and Kara would have been laughing like a loon if she hadn't been so inexplicably crushed by it. The Raider roared gloriously, displacing air and dust beneath it as it lowered to a landing across the yard. Racetrack and the marines exchanged delighted grins. Lee, who had never had Kara's sense of the dramatic, but was making good use of what sense he had, smiled at Anders' startled expression.

There was a touch of smugness in his voice when he said, "We'll leave in the morning."

* * *

author's note: I know this was more of a setup than anything, but I think it's one of the better written chapters so far, and I hope you enjoyed it. Now...props for anyone who can tell me what was funny, and why? ;-) 


	6. Chapter 6

Author's Note: I'm sorry this took so long everyone. I had hoped to include a bit more of the story in this chapter, but it was taking too long to iron out and write, so I figured it would be best to post what I have to far and start another chapter. I hope that's acceptable. Also, for those that were curious, the thing that was funny in the last chapter was the name Joe. A few of you got close. The reason why Sharon found it funny was that the name itself, Joseph, means "God shall increase." Just a little between the lines joke for you. And without further adieu…

* * *

_**"He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck, will suddenly be broken beyond healing." Proverbs 29:1**_

"You want to tell me what the hell that was all about!"

Kara was livid. Her face was contorted with that special brand of rage she reserved exclusively for Lee Adama, and it seemed as though every muscle in her body was clenched. They had closed the door behind them when she had dragged him in here, to this once-was classroom. Not that that mattered. Everyone in the building could probably hear them regardless. Lee was amazed the windows didn't break. But then, if they could withstand a nuclear holocaust, they could withstand Kara Thrace.

Probably.

"What what was all about?"

"Don't frak around with me Lee. That _stunt _out there with the Raider. Jerking everyone around!"

"You knew we'd need a Raider to get off this rock. You knew Helo and Sharon weren't here. I don't know why you're acting so surprised, Kara. This was the op. This was _your _op. We planned all of this before we even left Galactica."

"Oh don't even…no we did _not._ And I'm not talking about the Raider."

"Actually you were…"

"I'm talking about this…we're suddenly going on the raid now?"

"Yes."

"Tomorrow morning?"

"Yes."

Lee had taken a seat on the edge of the teacher's desk, his arms crossed defensively in front of him, though he was probably not aware of the nature of his posture just then. He kept his face as impassive as he could, which is not to say it was impassive at all, because Lee's jaw muscles always twitched when he was angry. His attempt to keep an even keel despite his emotions only made him come across as condescending, and Starbuck, practically frothing, was not calmed at all by it. She paced, or prowled rather, with her shoulders hunched a little and her fists clenched and her chin angled down, fixing a dark glare on him as she fought to stay in control. Her voice sounded…clenched almost.

"You didn't want to go on the raid. Said we had to get back to the fleet."

"We do have to get back to the fleet."

"So what…!"

"Look, I'm not thrilled about this Kara. But you're going on this raid whether we go with you or leave you here, and I've lost enough people on this mission already. And you're right, we do owe these people something."

"So we what? Fly the Raider to Caprica City, wreck the Farm, fly back here, pick up our crap, fly back to the fleet? That simple?"

"That simple."

"And you're going with us? On the raid?"

"That's the idea."

"Have you _lost your fraking mind! _You can barely walk!"

"I can walk fine."

"You've been shot! Gods know how you can even _use your arm_, let alone use a weapon!"

"Yeah well, I can." He was getting frustrated now, and tried to swallow it down. Joining the bitch brigade would hardly help matters. "I think I've already proven that."

He had. No one had been as impressed as Kara, when they began to realize the destruction they were coming across in their search for him was his own handy work. He had managed some miraculous things while he was on the run, and he had certainly saved their asses. But that wasn't the issue. He was being reckless, with his life and the lives of everyone who would have to depend on him. He was being incredibly, inescapably, inexcusably stupid. Whatever he was thinking with it was in no way connected to the logic centers of his brain. What was worse, she had the feeling he was being spiteful. She had not encountered many men as vindictive as Lee Adama in her life. He could hold a grudge like no one else, especially, _especially _when something had been taken away. And she had taken something away. It didn't matter that it was nothing she had ever given him. It had been his regardless, and they both knew it. Of course that wasn't the issue either. None of it was really. What bothered her, what _really needled _Kara Thrace, was something else entirely.

"Fine. So you can shoot. Good for you. But what the hell is this Lee? All of this? These past couple of days? I am second in command on this op, highest ranking officer after you. And this was _my _op from the beginning, like _you _just said." She paused, waiting to see if he would challenge her. He didn't. He didn't even seem to be looking at her. "So can you explain to me why the frak I've been out of the loop on every single plan, every single move you've made since you woke up?" She had stopped pacing now, and face him belligerently.

He was standing now too. It was a toss up, which Lee she liked better. Submissive-Lee was easier to handle, but infuriating. Gentle-Patronizing-Lee pissed her off almost _all _the time. Angry-Defiant-Assertive-Lee…pissed her off, made _her _angry, or made her hot. Except today. She could not have said what she felt today.

"We can't trust you."

Nothing, _nothing _he could have said could have _possibly _hit her harder than that. It was not often Kara Thrace found herself at a loss for words. In such an instance, it was always good to have a reliable standby.

"What. The frak. Is that supposed to mean?" He didn't answer. Under different circumstances it would have been just as hard for him to say as it was for her to hear. _Ok. On me then. Fine. _"Lee, you and I have known each other since flight school. We've been through a lot, and I'm not sure anyone has ever said the kinds of things to either of us that we've said to each other. You are probably the biggest _ass _I've ever met Apollo, but I've always trusted you. And I've _never _doubted that you trusted me."

Lee did not say that he knew full well that she had not _always _trusted him. It was true what she said. They had beaten on each other, slammed each other into walls, said some of the most hurtful things imaginable to each other just because they needed to say them to someone and they knew they _could_, and it would all be ok tomorrow. They worked together better than anyone else. They were a team, partners, and best friends. And nothing, not even social niceties, stood between that. Not even now.

"It's not about you Kara. It's not about you and me."

"No? Then what's it about Lee. Tell me. I'm dying to hear it."

He was getting mad now. Had been for a while. Try as he might, he could no longer contain it. The rage and anguish surged into his voice.

"Are you, Starbuck? Are _you _dying to here it?" He took a step closer. "Well I'll tell you. We can't trust _them_." He pointed in the general direction of outside, where "they" were amassed. "Those amateurs, that _Caprica Resistance _could get us all killed." She didn't hear him choke on those words. "And since you and Anders are attached at the fraking hip…!"

"Hold on! Those 'amateurs' saved my ass, and Helo's. They have been here with us every step of the way. They fight and die here every day for Caprica. Hell Apollo they helped track down your ass…"

"_My_ _ass _wouldn't have needed tracking if it hadn't been for…"

Lee stopped abruptly. His eyes bore into her, hard and pained. The unspoken hung heavily between them, and Kara knew that, once again, he did not trust her. Every muscle in him was quaking, either from emotion or the exertion of the argument.

But it was not a matter of trust now. He was afraid. He was afraid that if he stood here one moment longer he would tell her. And he couldn't tell her. Not yet. While jealousy and anger burned in him, deep down he was also terrified that she might love this Anders, genuinely care for him. And if she did, as much as Lee might burn at the idea, could he really justify driving her away from her lover if he didn't have to? No, that wasn't it. What he was afraid of was that he would tell her, and it wouldn't push her away from Anders and her precious resistance at all. He was afraid that if he told her, it wouldn't mean anything.

Lee Adama turned as smartly as he could manage and, as he had so many times in recent days, left Kara Thrace watching his back.

* * *

It had been Sharon's suggestion to keep Seek with them when Starbuck dragged Apollo off, presumably to tear into him for leaving her out of the loop on…everything. The cylon woman's fascination with the dog that killed cylons continued to amaze and befuddle her comrades. Despite the fact that the dog was clearly uncomfortable with Sharon, and frequently threatened the woman if she came too close, Sharon continued to test the dog, always wanting to be closer. She studied with rapt attention when the others played with Seek, or practiced commands with her, or just showed her affection.

She was doing that now. Sharon sat with Helo and the others on Joe's ramp, pretty much right where they had been when Starbuck had crossly demanded a word in private with Apollo. She was as close to Seek as she had ever been without putting the dog on heightened alert. Seek was utterly relaxed, not even threatening to growl. Improbably, Seek had taken a shine to Helo, and was settled on the ramp next to him with her head in his lap. Her eyes, though, never left Sharon, who was sitting perhaps four feet away.

No one knew what to say really. The "do you think she's tearing him a new one?" conversation had quickly died out, the result of subordinates decidedly unnerved by the idea of their leaders in conflict. It was Helo, absently patting the dog's massive head, who broke the silence.

"This couldn't have been her name," he said.

"Hmm?"

"The dog. C.E.K. couldn't have been her name before the attack. I wonder what he called her." It was nothing that was of any real consequence, but it was something to talk about, and a point of curiosity.

"It reminds me of riot police dogs."

"Had a lot of experience with riot police Walker?" Landin teased.

Walker did not rise to the bait. "Seriously though. It's like K-9. Like a designation."

"So the guy had a sense of humor. Didn't save him did it?"

"No but I bet he took a lot of those frakkin' toasters down with him."

A few people glanced at Sharon to see what her reaction would be, but she seemed not to have heard. She was watching Seek as intently as she was watched. It was strange and fascinating to see Helo so at ease with the dog now, when so recently he had had to be restrained from shooting her.

Seek, goliath among mere mortals, as some had come to view her, yawned cavernously and flopped onto her side.

"Ya know something? I think she's bagging up a little." Shields observed.

"Huh?"

"My parents raised wolf hounds for a while. The bitches bag up before whelping. Producing milk."

"So what, she's pregnant now? That's ridiculous. How would she even have been bred?"

"I _know _we don't have to explain the technical details to _you, _Helo," Landin taunted. He was in high spirits today, it seemed. Everyone chuckled.

Sharon's interest had been piqued. She moved a little closer, though not enough to bring the dog to attention. She had never encountered anything pregnant before. Anything _else _that is. She was curious.

"Apollo said the guy who had her was giving her meds right? And they lived in the mountains above the ambient radiation. That's the only reason _this _dog survived. The captain didn't say anything about two." Racetrack was skeptical, but pretty curious herself.

"Could she have been bred before the attack?" Sharon asked.

"No." Shields was enjoying his expertise on this matter, and was making a great show of probing the dog's belly. She was so huge already, it was almost impossible to tell she was carrying extra weight. "A dog only gestates for 63 days or so. She would have had to be bred a month or more later."

They were all quiet for a minute. Walker was thinking of the designation on the dog's collar, and that if he had had a dog, or been part of a group of people with dogs using them to fight the cylons, he would have designated her in such a way. He was also thinking that if he had had a dog this huge and good at her job, he would breed her too. Landin, who had spent a lot of times in the mountains as a younger man, was thinking of the scattered wolf packs that could be found in the ranges. Sharon was thinking along the same lines, wondering how long feral canid populations in the high mountains would survive following an attack, and with no way of receiving the type of meds the humans and, apparently, Seek had been getting. She wondered how viable the seed of such beasts could be.

There had been no evidence of any other people living with or near Seek's owner in the mountains, and Seek could hardly tell them. None of them were inclined to ask the resistance men and women if they had ever heard or seen wolves in the mountains. Could it be true? Was Seek pregnant? Evidence certainly seemed to suggest it, now that they all knew to look. _How _it was possible though, was quite beyond all of them.

Any further discussion was cut short by Lee emerging from the school, looking drained and very, very angry. He looked that way for fully half the walk from the school to Joe, but, by the time he had reached them, his face was schooled, and he was a captain again. It was a sad and admirable skill of his.

Seek scrambled to her feet and padded over to Lee as he approached. It must have been bad. He didn't even smile, just patted her absently.

"We have plans to make," he said stiffly.

* * *

Samuel T. Anders and Tenpoint sat on the edge of the school building roof, watching the Galactica men and women sit on their pet Raider and play with their pet dog. Anders had mixed feelings about the Galactica people coming with them on their raid to Caprica City. The Raider would make the trip shorter and give them an advantage they had not had before. He also could not deny that the marines would be useful, and Captain Adama had proven himself capable of handling himself in a difficult situation. Still, the whole idea sat uneasily with him. He would not allow for the possibility that he was simply disappointed that Kara was no longer in a position to make a choice.

"It's weird, isn't it?" Tenpoint asked, watching Apollo emerge from beneath them and make his way towards his men.

"What is?"

"That he's alive. You know Chauncey said it actually looked like he'd received some medical treatment. He said they had him for what? Three days? Beat the crap out of him and just cut him down and left him?" He shook his head. "Never heard of a toaster letting a guy live once they had him."

"They were tracking him. You saw the tracer."

Tenpoint grunted. His eyes were on Seek. In all the months they had been fighting on Caprica, he had never seen a dog out here. He had heard Anders and Jackson talk about how the dog had attacked the cylons, and seen how aggressive she was towards the Galactica landing party's other pet, Sharon. Still, it was difficult for him to come to terms with it. He pressed on.

"And they just happened to cut him down and leave him within limping distance of a cabin with everything he would need to survive there for the taking. And this dog just happened to find him and lead him to it, and make sure he didn't get dead on his way back here."

"What are you saying? That it's all some ploy to get to us? That they took him, tortured him, cut him down, sent this dog to keep him alive and tear open a few of their own in the process? Man and you say _his _story's far out there."

"I'm just sayin'… think about it Sam. If you were a cylon, and you knew you'd be downloaded as soon as you died, would you care if a body or two was sacrificed to win the hearts and minds of the enemy?"

"There haven't been any cylon attacks since they've been here."

"So? Sam, they're coming with us to Caprica City."

Anders shook his head. He did not like the suggestion. Would Apollo's dog turn on them? Was the dog being used by the cylons? Hell, _was the dog _a cylon?

Then there was the issue of Apollo's overwhelmingly speedy recovery. He had been shot in the shoulder, but had never had his arm in a sling and had pretty good use of it. The Captain was testy, coming into conflict was Kara regularly, which made Anders suspicious of the man to begin with. And Tenpoint was right, the cylons hadn't killed him. What was Apollo's reason for caving and agreeing to help with their raid on the Farm in Caprica City? What _possible _motivation could he have for going himself, when had had been so badly injured? Was Adama himself a cylon?

Anders fingered the butt of the rifle laid across his lap as he watched the Galactica crew in conference on the ramp of the Raider.

* * *

Starbuck came out of the school a few minutes behind Apollo. She saw him and the others over by Joe, probably going through the plan. Well she would be damned if she was excluded from this op, and Lee could go to hell. The others nodded to her when she approached. Even Lee made brief eye contact with her, lifting his chin slightly in acknowledgement. _Well that's something at least. _She sat down beside Helo, making up her mind to listen attentively without even the slightest hint of the kind of pretentious candor that would send Lee off the handle.

"So we leave everything and everyone we're not taking on the raid with us here and ready to go," Lee continued after Kara got settled. "Everyone who's going should be packed and ready to go by dawn. Landin, Walker, I want you to lead the ground assault teams. Two teams, Perimeter, and Assault. You can coordinate with Anders on that." The two marines nodded, as all of them silently marveled at the absolute lack of rancor in Apollo's voice when he said his rival's name. "Shields will stay back at the Raider with Sharon to provide air support. Racetrack, you stay back and make sure everything and everyone is organized and ready to go when we get back."

"And where will I be?" Helo did not at all like the implication that _he _would _not _be staying with Sharon.

"You and Starbuck will take a smaller strike force to back up the Assault team, to push through and complete the op in case they get bogged down inside. You'll also be responsible for searching the rooms and making sure there are no women being kept away from the main group. We're talking a hospital here, so there will plenty of searching to do."

"And you?" Starbuck inquired. She wondered who had briefed him about the Farms; he seemed to know pretty well what the layout would be, and even the purpose of the place, as he was referring to women being kept.

"I'll be outside supporting the Perimeter team." In response to their questioning looks, Apollo sighed, and braced himself. "I won't be as mobile as the rest of you, so I'll take my rife to one of the rooftops near the site and cover the approaches."

"You'll do _what?"_ Surprisingly, it was not Starbuck, but Racetrack who demanded.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea Captain," Landin put in, in a far more even tone. "If they bring in air support in response to our assault they could shell you before you could even think about getting away."

"And that's if they're not already covering the neighboring rooftops to begin with," Helo added.

"Which they will be," Starbuck growled. "You should stay on Joe with Sharon and Shields."

"This is not a discussion. We'll make a strafing run over the most likely building. Then we'll circle low, drop me off, and land the rest of the team, after which the Raider will take off again to provide air support. Now tomorrow's going to be a long day so I suggest you all get some rest. Dismissed."


	7. Chapter 7

Author's Note: I will preface this, the final chapter of Seek Ye First, with a bit of a lengthy note, so please bear with me.

The tale is now drawn to a close – at least this portion of it. I would like to offer thanks to my muses, in all their incarnations, and to you, my readers, for your kind words and feedback from beginning until now.

I would also like to request in depth criticism. If you please, leave no stone unturned. Be gracious, and thereby be as mean as you can be. This chapter was difficult for me to capture, and I am concerned about its quality. While it is my favorite of the ones I have written, I am hoping to improve upon it. No criticism is too slight to be noted, and I would be in your debt.

Also, I am sorry. Twas not done to spite you. The plan was carried out as it was worked long ago.

* * *

_**There are so many little dyings that it doesn't matter which of them is death. Kenneth Patchen**_

It was remarkable really, how silent the interior of the Raider was. It had been packed to capacity with fighters of various competencies for the assault on the Caprica City farm, and while there was little room for the two groups to move any distance from one another, the Galactica and Resistance people were unmistakably polarized. Kara Thrace did not understand the tension. She supposed it was Lee's influence on the others, but did not say anything about it. If they all were content to pass the ride in uneasy silence, that suited her fine. They would only be fighting if they spoke anyway, that she was certain.

The fact of the matter was that she would not have been unsettled by it at all if not for the eyes. Anyone who spent any time with Starbuck noted her uncanny ability to shrug off even the most palpable tension, and on those few occasions when the tension and aggression came near enough to knock her around a little, she would punch it in the face and have done with it. That was her way, if not always, often enough that it seemed to be. And it would have been her way now. She would have sat there and talked to Anders and Tenpoint in low voices, and ignored that her own people were ignoring her. Except that not all of them were. Regardless of every other set of eyes, which skittered off of her the moment they touched, as if she was coated in an invisible oil to which they could not stick, there was one pair that did not waver from her.

Lee's dog, that bear of a thing that had subtly dominated them since her appearance, watched Kara Thrace intently through chocolate eyes. It was a habit she had that they had all noticed; the dog always watched the ones she was not sure of that way. Kara had seen Seek eye Sharon, in the first day or two after Lee had been brought in, when she had still spent a lot of time with the Galactica crewmen, before they had decided that they did not trust her. She had taken it to be the look a predator gave its prey. Sitting here now, though, watching the dog watching her, she saw the way Lee's hand rested lightly on the dog's head, and imagined all his furious energy traveling down to the tips of his fingers, and into his gentle guardian.

Lee himself feigned sleep. He sat directly across from her, with his head leaned back against the ship, and his eyes closed. She knew he was faking though. Lee Adama had a particular quality about him when he was sleeping, and she did not see it now. His eyes twitched restlessly under their lids, and ever down and then, with a sudden jerk, his fingers would flex. He was trying to control his pain, trying to calm his mind. He was trying to settle the frak down so he could do his job. And he did not want to talk to anyone, that was obvious. The others, for now, seemed content to leave him be. They all spoke around him though, in hushed voices, and Starbuck knew he was absorbing every word. She could not hear what they were saying, but, once, Lee flinched.

Starbuck was not the only one who noticed that Apollo was not actually asleep. He was not doing a very good job of faking it, if truth be told, and did not especially care. Samuel T. Anders had seen it too. He had been chatting absently with Kara, and noticed that her attention was not so much focused on him as scattered everywhere else but. Following her eyes, he had been brought to Lee Adama.

Of course, Anders' mind followed a different track that Starbuck's did, seeing the Captain so obviously avoiding the rest of them. He did not for a moment believe Lee was sleeping. Adama's right hand gripped the butt of his rifle a bit too tightly, it seemed. Anders did not like the deception. Possible reasons why the Galactica captain would be avoiding confrontation as they journeyed towards their fate played through his mind. When this plan had been presented to him, he had almost argued it, if for no other reason than it was the cagey Captain Lee Adama who had contrived it. It was not only a matter of not liking the new boys stepping on his experienced toes on his home turf, although there was some of that resentment as well. He did not share Kara's righteous indignation as Apollo placed himself in a solitary and, to her mind, vulnerable position. Instead, Anders viewed the move as further proof that Apollo was not has he seemed, because his plan removed _him _from the thick of the fighting.

Even by air, the journey to Caprica City from Delphi would take a nearly an hour. Helo and Sharon had made the trip overland and on foot in a few weeks, and were quietly amazed and how quickly they were covering the distance now. Neither was a stranger to the marvels of technology, obviously, any more than either could understand why the trek felt cheapened somehow, being made so easily.

They were all a little startled when Sharon walked back from the bow and stood among them.

"Five minutes," she said.

Lee's eyes snapped open. Jarred out of their conspiratorial reverie, everyone began talking at once. Firearms had to be checked and rechecked. Did the Assault team have their explosives in order? For a moment Kara thought Lee would refuse the arm Walker offered to help him stand, but his pride had its limit it seemed. He slung his rifle over his shoulder and made his way towards the back of the Raider, where, in only a few minutes, the ramp would drop and he would too, onto the roof of whatever building Sharon selected for him.

Kara watched him. Gods, this was idiotic.

"Is everyone clear on the op?" Lee asked. There were a few "yes sirs," and a few grudging grunts. Lee scanned their faces, holding Kara's eyes a heartbeat longer than any of the others'.

And not only idiotic, it was happening too fast. Was it only yesterday that he had hatched this fool plan? Why hadn't any of them tried to talk him out of it? Because he's the senior officer, obviously, and they were still members of the Colonial Fleet. Only she was brazen enough to offer direct opposition, and she had been too resigned to put up much of a fight.

Were they here already? Was Lee Adama about to jump, bum leg and all, onto a recently shelled roof from the ramp of a hovering Raider?

How the _frak _had this even _happened? _

No one could tell her.

She couldn't ask.

"Good hunting," he said.

_Be careful out there… _she thought bitterly.

* * *

It went off without a hitch at first. Sharon brought Joe to bear on the roof of a bank building across the street from the hospital. It was patrolled, as they had guessed, but the centurions pacing mechanically back and forth were dispatched easily enough by Joe's guns. With their presence so artfully announced, they could waste no time.

Joe swung around and dropped its ramp, letting Lee off just a few feet over the roof. Seek leapt after him.

The Raider dropped to street level without raising its ramp again. Sharon directed the Raider to rake the front of the hospital with fire before they touched down, to take out as many of the defenders as they could. As Joe swept its guns across the face of the building the Perimeter force began to offload.

They came under fire immediately. There were groups of centurions stationed in buildings flanking the Farm, and across the street.

"Suppressive fire!" Landin barked. _"Move move move!" _

The Perimeter team dodged back behind mailboxes and the shells of cars. They heaved grenades in the direction of the centurion fire, shouting to each other over the din. Landin shot the glass out of the hospital doors and pitched a couple of grenades into the lobby. The Assault team boiled off the Raider behind them.

It moved very fast for Starbuck. She and the Assault teams sprinted from the Raider and through the hospital doors, sheltered by the Perimeter team's cover fire. For now, her team and the main Assault team were one mass. Walker was first through the shattered doors, shooting down everything still moving inside.

"They'll be in the surgical wing!" Anders called.

"I want every floor swept," Starbuck countered. "Nothing half assed. Walker!"

"Sir!"

"Bottom to top. Let's clean this place out. Check every room for survivors."

"Yes, sir."

"You honestly think there are survivors here?" Anders demanded skeptically. All of the women would be alive of course…but not survivors in the strictest sense.

"We take no chances. If there are any women here that haven't been hooked up we're not blowing them up along with the rest," she growled.

That was, after all, why they were in here boots down instead of just having Joe blow the place to bits and heading home.

"Assault team!" Walker was shouting. "We want a clean sweep. Let's move people we're on a clock here!"

"Secondary team with me!" Starbuck ordered. "We make for the surgical wing."

Joe dusted off the second the last of the Assault team dismounted. The ramp was not yet fully raised, and already the heavy Raider was firing into the surrounding buildings. Between Joe's burst of fire the Perimeter team could hear the crack of Apollo's rifle.

But it didn't last very long. The cylons had not been as surprised as they would have been before the first Farm was destroyed after Starbuck's visit, and their defenses were heavier than they might have been. Still, the shear speed and force of the hit the defenders sustained, combined with Joe's strafing runs and Lee's sniping, dispatched the cylons nearest their location with almost startling efficiency. After only a few minutes the guns fell silent. Joe hovered over the street, the white noise of its roaring engines becoming as much a part of the landscape as birds in a country garden…when there had been birds…and gardens.

It would not last long, they all knew that. Caprica city was crawling with toasters who would have heard the brief, fiery battle, and would be responding. Maybe even Raiders would come… They could hear the sounds of gunfire inside, as the Assault teams moved rapidly from floor to floor. The quiet, the inactivity, was crippling.

"Ok team," Landin said. He had to shout over the engine noise, but they were all wound so tightly they would have leapt at a whisper. "We'll be facing the big ugly soon enough. Let's drag as much cover as we can to this position. We leave room for them to get out behind us, but no one else gets in."

"Unless they use the back door," Tenpoint muttered.

No one heard him.

From his place on the roof, Apollo could look down and see the Perimeter team setting up their meager fortifications. It had surprised him as much as anyone, how easily the primary defenders had been dispatched. More surprising still was how disappointed he had been by it. He had not even realized how eager he was for a good fight.

Now all there was for him to do was watch. He could see the Assault team, or vague shadows of the Assault team, through the hospital windows across the street. He could see up the street in either direction, as well as the airspace for miles over the tops of buildings. From this vantage, he would be able to warn the team below of any enemy advance, and begin firing upon the cylons well before the others could even see them. This allowed Sharon and Shields to maintain a relatively low altitude with Joe, which would increase their response time when the inevitable reinforcements arrived.

Unless of course those reinforcements were Raiders, but there was no point thinking about that.

Lee shifted his weight a little, keeping as much off his injured leg as possible. He squinted slightly, then laughed softly at himself as he realized the folly of expecting to be able to see Kara through the glass.

"Open that nose, pup," he sighed, dropping a hand listlessly on Seek's massive brow. "I don't think we'll have long to wait up here." Seek eyed him innocently.

Starbuck's sweep team was making good time. She and Helo were point, side arms held easily and readily in front of them as they jogged with smooth, practiced strides down either side of the corridor. They had decided to check the outpatient surgery first, because it was on the first floor, and they were sure the stairways would be heavily guarded. Since the sweep team consisted of her, Helo, Anders, and a wiry slip of a Resistance girl called Caden, and that was it, they decided to make sure the first floor was clear and give the more heavily armed and manned Assault force time to clear the stairwells.

They checked every room with coordinated precision, taking special care to avoid crossing directly in front of any glassed in reception areas before they had tossed grenades to clear them. That they met with hardly any resistance did not bide well for the prospects of the outpatient surgery wing.

A shrill whistle sounded, reverberating off the buildings. Everyone stopped to look skyward, at the outline of Apollo on the roof across the street. He was waving down to them, and when he saw he had their attention he pointed east, down the broken boulevard. They heard the report of his rifle as he took aim and fired.

The outpatient surgery wing was cleared. It had been used recently, and several key pieces of equipment had been removed, but there was no one here.

"This is creepy," Caden whispered. "We haven't seen one fraking cylon…"

"Yeah well don't complain. Let's get going." Anders looked around quickly, then turned and ran back the way he had come. Caden followed.

"Hey!" Starbuck called.

The two slid to a halt and looked back at her. Neither she, nor Helo had moved. The latter wore a bemused expression on his face as he watched their unobservant comrades move away. The former arched a brow and jerked her chin.

Anders and Caden ran to catch up as Helo and Starbuck started cautiously up the stairs.

Lee placed each shot carefully at first. The centurions, clanking with a slow and deadly purpose towards them, came down the street and out of the adjoining alley ways as if they had always been there, waiting. There were no Raiders in the air, which surprised him a little, but the centurions by themselves were intimidating enough. They were so unhurried. Even when Lee gunned them down, even when Joe blew whole groups of them away almost carelessly, they strode on, unconcerned.

Now Lee just wanted to slow them down. They were coming from both sides of the street now, in a pincher. When they came in range of the Perimeter team's guns, the men and women on the ground opened fire as well. As one body the centurions collapsed their spindly hands into weapons, and added their furious staccato to the song.

They could hear the sounds of gunfire, from ahead of them and from the street, when they emerged onto the third floor. The second floor, like the first, had been surprisingly undefended. Clearly that particular bit of luck was not meant to last, as it sounded like Walker's boys had met with their first real fight.

"Surgical suit's on this floor," Caden pointed out. There was a plaque on the wall, indicating as much.

"Cocky bastards. Don't care if we find it at all."

"I don't think so," Helo said. His voice had a quizzical tone, and he was examining the wall sign critically.

"Helo?"

"This has been moved here from somewhere else. See the dust on the floor from when they drilled it into the sheet rock, the little scratches around the holes in the corners? I bet if we take this down we won't see any signs of fading around it. This was done in a hurry, and recently."

"The shooting down on the other end?"

"They're trying to draw us, get us to waste time maybe. I say we keep going."

Exchanged nods were all that was necessary to seal the agreement. The four of them ducked back into the stairwell, and continued up.

"Why don't they guard this one?" Caden asked. "It's like a free pa…"

"Down!"

Starbuck pitched forward, grabbing a fistful of the other woman's vest and hauling her back. A shower of bullets from above slammed into the concrete around them, ricocheting from the floor and walls as they scurried back down.

"There's your answer. _You _shut the frak up from now on."

"Got any ideas on how we get up there?"

"We could grenade them out, like we did in the lobby."

"I thought I told you to shut up," Starbuck growled, only half paying attention to Caden.

"But…"

"They're _above _us, moron. What happens if our grenade hits a wall or railing and bounces back down?"

Caden was quiet. So were the defenders' guns.

"How many do you think?" Helo asked, checking his clip and sliding it back in.

"They wouldn't need many. Stairways' only two centurions wide, tops."

"I've got an idea," Anders put in. "Can you distract them on the platform?" He nodded towards the half-way platform, where they had been when the centurions opened fire.

"Where will you be?"

"Climbing."

Helo, Starbuck, and Caden looked where Anders indicated, and saw with equal measures of admiration of alarm what he intended to try.

"Nice."

The stairs they were on went up perhaps ten more steps from where they stood, then flattened out to a platform, where they had taken fire, which was at a ninety degree angle to the stairs. Another block of steps, running parallel to theirs but higher and angled up, ran at its own ninety degree angle to the platform, and ended at another platform, whereon the centurions stood. There was a space between these, so that if one were to stick his head out and look down, he would see the ground floor, and if he were to look up he would see to the ceiling.

Starbuck, Helo, Caden, and Anders made their way careful up the last ten steps to the platform, keeping low and close to the wall. All they had time for was to duck their heads out and rack out a few rounds before the eruption of centurion fire forced them back. But that was fine, because as soon as the shooting began Anders had dropped down into the space between and caught hold of the slowest bar of the railing. He made his way, hand to hand, up towards the next platform.

Anders cursed himself under his breath as he made his way up the inside of the railings, sure he would be seen and blown away at any moment. Bullets zinged by his fingers. Fortunately, he did not have far to climb. _Unfortunately _he had not even considered how he would get back down when he rolled the grenade onto the platform. Too late now.

_Right hand reach, grab. Left hand up to meet it. Right hand reach. Slow and easy. Mother frakin' fool show off cocky frakin' bastard… _

Starbuck and Helo kept up the pressure on the centurions, in a much as pressure could be maintained on a superior enemy with superior weapons and superior ground. It did not take as long as it seemed to for Anders to reach the platform. Miraculously, he was not seen. As quickly as he could move and still be secure, he dropped his left hand to his belt, fumbled for his last grenade, pulled the pin with his teeth, and rolled it out onto the platform.

The centurions stopped firing. Anders let go of the railing.

Lee imagined he could see their outlines through the windows of the hospital across from him. He glanced up only occasionally. He had had to duck down more than a few times, pulling Seek with him, as bullets smashed through the hospital windows. The Perimeter team, below him, wrapped their arms over their heads in attempt to shield themselves from the rain of glass.

They were holding. With Sharon, Shields, and Joe mowing down the advancing centurions, the men on the ground were sheltered from what could have been a bloody battle. Lee kept on expecting to see Raiders flying in at any moment.

A low growl rumbled in Seek's chest, and Lee glanced over at her in surprise. It wasn't a snarl really, like he would expect if there were cylons somewhere on the roof with them. Her teeth were not even bared. The dog just growled softly, her hackles raised slightly, her gaze focused on the hospital across from them.

Lee looked where she was looking, and it did not take him long to see what had upset her. There, on the hospital roof, were two cylon men and one woman, all of which he recognized. They were standing with a pair of centurions, and looking down at him with interest. By the time Lee swung his rifle up they were gone, as if they had never been. But only for a moment. He saw them again briefly, or thought he did, through the windows, moving down. They were on the seventh floor. He judged walker to be on the third. Where Starbuck and her team were, he had no idea.

Anders catching his arm on the rail he had started off on and the grenade exploding happened simultaneously. Bits of metal and concrete flew through the air. He was dimly aware of Starbuck, Helo, and Caden shielding themselves from the blast; they had come down the stairs as soon as they saw him pull the pin. Helo grabbed hold of the back of Anders' vest and pulled him back over the railing.

The enclosed stairwell had amplified the blast; all their ears were ringing. They were all scrapped up to, bruised and bleeding and dirtier than they had been before. But that was all. The gods were with them. The centurions were destroyed, and the steel re-enforced concrete stairway had held up under the blast. Mostly.

They rested a moment before hauling themselves up the stairs, weapons at the ready. The fourth floor doorway had been blown open, and there were signs of scorching on the opposite wall. Starbuck and Helo took position flanking the doorway, backs to the wall, weapons held in front of them. They ducked their heads out, checking the hallway in either direction. Nothing.

Starbuck nodded to Anders and Caden, who dodged out of the door and took covering positions. Helo and Starbuck followed them out. With only wordless signals passing between them, the four split, with Helo and Starbuck taking the west corridor, and Anders and Caden going east. They moved as quickly and silently as they could, staying close to the walls, opening each door carefully to check inside. It was not that they expected their presence here was a secret, especially given the explosion on the stairs. If there was anyone up here, though, they wanted to see them before they themselves were seen.

They were halfway down the hall when Starbuck raised a fist and pulled to an abrupt halt. Helo, coming along just behind her, skipped over to the opposite side and dropped to one knee. A door opened ahead of them.

Number Six emerged, followed closely by the one they knew as Simon. Their expressions were strange in that they were not urgent, or even, it seemed, aware that they should be. The former wore a translucent black dress, the later wore a white lab coat and carried a clipboard. Starbuck shuddered.

She and Helo opened fire simultaneously, dropping their targets after only a short burst. With a jerk of her head, Kara indicated that Helo should advance. He nodded back, and advanced quickly to check both cylons for signs of life. His right hand made a knifing gesture across his throat. She nodded, and advanced.

Step by step, they were cold, efficient, and precise. She was a pilot, he was an ECO. Basic ground assault was something they had gone through a long time ago. For these two, though, it was only as long ago as their last visit to Caprica, as their sojourn on Kobol. Only a few short months ago this kind of scenario would have been unthinkable to either of them. Starbuck shook off the thought. Live in the present or die in the future.

The door the cylons had come out of had been left slightly ajar; they had been gunned down before they had closed and relocked it. Starbuck and Helo took up flanking positions again, making eye contact and nodding to each other before Helo reached out and pushed the door, just slightly, and let it swing inward.

No one shot out at them from inside. Nothing made a sound.

Starbuck went in first, with Helo on her heels.

_Rhea. _

That was the word that shot through Kara Thrace's mind. She felt her rifle lower, saw Helo's pistol doing the same out of the corner of her eye. The children stared at them, eyes wide and terrified.

There were eleven of them, all girls. The oldest was perhaps thirteen or fourteen, and it was that girl that had inspired Starbuck's initial thought. She was a stout young lady, with black eyes, mousey brown hair, and sharp features. Not a pretty thing really, but not ugly either. She held the littlest girl on her hip; that one was maybe two. The others were all roughly the same size, though in reality they ranged in age from four to ten. They clung to the older one, to her hand if they could get hold of it, or to bits of her clothing.

The room was sparingly furnished, but clean. The children were clean as well. They had been clothed uniformly, in sturdy, nondescript gray garments. Though they were lanky and hollow looking, they had been fed; remnants of plates of food could be seen set aside on the small card table in the corner.

"Who are you?" the oldest girl demanded. She had a surprising strength and clarity of voice. And a quick mind; she had immediately that these were not the same brand as her usual visitors.

"My name's Kara. I'm with the Colonial Fleet. This is Karl." And that was the first time Helo had ever heard Starbuck use his given name. The corner of his mouth jerked in a quick smile. "Who are you?"

"My name is Abrianna. The girls call me Abri." Her face took on a ghostly pallor, and she clutched the child a little tighter. "But I'm not anyone anymore. I'm just a breeder. We're all just breeders."

Starbuck was horrified. These were human children, there was no doubt about that. The implications flooded her mind, and stirred in her a rage the likes of which she had seldom known. Human children, girls, recovered from the villages and towns and farms, had been brought here, to this farm, to be fed and cared for and raised up, until they were old enough to bear children. Abri looked near old enough herself. What had happened to the boy children, if they'd found any? What had they done to the girls who were too sickly?

Helo was thinking all of these things as well, because though he was simple he was no fool. But there was a difference in his thinking. Helo saw those little girls and he thought of his daughter, just starting to make her presence known in her mother. He saw them, and felt a fear and rage of his own.

"Come on," he said shortly, sweeping one of the littlest into his arms. "You're coming with us."

The girls hesitated for only a moment, then, at Abri's urging, fell in behind him. Starbuck took up the rear.

Anders and Caden found what they were looking for. The surgical suite here had been converted, just as it had been everywhere else they had been, to sustain the human incubators. A dozen or more women were hooked up to the softly beeping machines, unconscious or semi-conscious.

This was one area at which the Resistance people had infinitely more practice than their Galactica counterparts. Though the Farm in Caprica City was by far the largest they had had to deal with, it was not the first. Caden hated how calm and detached she was able to be, shooting out the breaker box and killing the power to the machines. Anders felt only a vague sorrow and muted rage as he placed the explosives.

There was one thing that could shock them though. It was difficult to imagine anything more astounding than the scene that confronted them when they jogged back out into the main corridor to alert Starbuck and Helo to the impending explosion.

Starbuck and Helo were there, as expected, but they were not alone. Helo was carrying a child. And if that was not enough, ten more children followed after him.

Anders shook of his surprised stupor. There would be time for an explanation later.

"We have to go!" he barked. "Now!"

Windows had been blowing out of the hospital since the fighting began. They had all grown accustomed, even in so short a time, to the sight of it, to the sound. But this sound was of an altogether different quality. This was the sound of an entire wing of the hospital blowing outward.

Lee had seen many explosions in recent months. But there is no sound in space. When the east end of the fourth floor blew out, there was such a roar that he fell back from it. And he was not alone. Even the centurions below him seemed to pause for half a heartbeat.

In the dust and smoke, he could hardly see anything. Lee squinted hard, practically willing the air to clear. He had to see, if he could, his people through the hospital windows. He had to see them moving, alive.

It seemed like a lifetime. Finally, the haze lifted enough that he could see their outlines. There was Walker and his Assault team, where Lee had last seen them on the northwest end of the third floor. They were falling back, rushing to meet another group coming at them from the opposite direction. Starbuck, and her people. More than her people. There was a mass of them, mostly small, making their way towards the relative shelter of Walker's many guns. He could imagine her telling him it was done, ordering that they fall back.

Time for him to get moving as well. He could no longer get a good angle on the centurions; most of them were directly beneath him now. Anyway, it would save time if he was there with the others when Joe picked them up, to gather them all at once instead of making a separate trip for him. Apollo began to edge back slowly, not wanting to stand until he was back away from the edge.

He stopped short. There, across from him, were the cylons he had seen on the roof. They were on the fourth floor, in one of the rooms. When had they come down? How had he not noticed them?

That did not matter. What mattered was his people were just one floor below. They were making their way down, sure, but they had no idea there were cylons just above them, following them down. He did not know why he was so upset. They had, after all, been fighting cylons all this time. They had also been killing cylons all this time, which was evidenced by the fact that they were all still breathing. But Lee was thrown off regardless. Something about the very idea of these particular cylons following Starbuck and her people down sent his mind spinning.

Seek whimpered, looking at him curiously.

"Let's go," he grunted. Using her for support, Lee pushed to his feet and half limped, half ran down the twisting ramps of the three-story parking garage. He could not have said what he hoped to accomplish, but to move was better than to watch anyway.

It happened so fast.

People looking back on it hours, days, weeks later would still not be able to believe how quickly and brutally it all happened. Those who would bear the scars for the rest of their lives would still look at them, at those puckered pink marks on their skin, and imagine they were there and gone in an instant, hardly felt or noticed.

It all happened so, very, fast.

Lee had a shorter distance to go than his counterparts in the hospital, and an easier way to get there. He was not hindered by the many twists and turns of stairwells, nor by panicky children, nor by a force of fighters far stronger than it had seemed going _up. _Still, even with Seek's help going was slow for him. His leg screamed violent curses at him with every step. His shoulder, abused by the kick of the rifle, protested angrily. His slightly anemic body woozed at him. It was like his spirit faded in and out, unsure of its seat. It was like the invisible crutch that had carried him since Seek had found him had been kicked out from under him.

So he made it to ground level at about the same time Starbuck did. In the time he and she had been making their respective journeys down, Joe had all but cleared the street. More cylons were coming; he could hear them. But he could not yet see them, and they were not in range.

He started across the street.

Joe began to make its descent, pivoting in the sky so that its ramp would open to them when it landed.

Apollo began his trek across the avenue. He could see Starbuck, Helo, Walker, and their entourage in the lobby. Where there more of them than there had been? What was Helo carrying?

He was half-way across when Seek snarled and leapt away from him. She tore the collar, held loosely in Lee's hand, from his grip so abruptly he nearly toppled. He had never heard her howl so. He saw her mark in the next instant. The cylons he had seen, had half convinced himself were only illusion, were coming out of the stairway now. No. Just one. Where were the others?

Lee began to run, haltingly, and desperately.

Starbuck and company were just coming out of the door. Anders was at point.

Tenpoint had made his way towards Joe, exhausted, limping from a shrapnel wound, and ready to be the first one onboard when the Raider touched down. He turned with a start when he heard someone shout in wordless surprise, saw Seek with her fangs bared, barreling at the man who had just emerged from the hospital lobby. He saw Lee in pursuit, rifle in hand.

Tenpoint did not even think, did not even consider. He reacted, as a man reacts when he sees his friend, his leader, faced with the jaws of death.

His rifle was to his shoulder.

A shot ripped the air.

Everything stopped.

Lee's feet stopped so suddenly that the rest of him pitched forward. For an instant, it looked as though he would catch himself, but if his body still had strength enough, his heart now lacked the will. Shocks of needling pain stabbed through his legs and back as he slammed to his knees.

There was a brief, startled hitch. With the enemy advancing from all sides, all anyone could do was stare.

Seek twitched.

Starbuck saw the shift, from shock to stony rage on Apollo's face. She saw the flare, as his eyes shot up and skipped over the Assault team, marking something in the lobby behind them.

Starbuck and Apollo sprang into action in the same instant. Lee brought his rifle to his shoulder hard, with the kind of speed and fluidity no one ever seemed to expect of him. Kara spun, sending two rounds deep into Doral's chest as the cylon man strode purposefully towards their exposed backs.

Seeing his target gunned down, Lee changed direction before he had even brought his rifle to bear. He whipped around, raising himself up to one knee with a barely noticeable wince.

Not three seconds had passed in the lifetime since Seek had gone down. Tenpoint had not even lowered his rifle.

Lee's body quaked. His face was twisted and hard. By the time Kara pivoted back, Lee had racked a round into the chamber, and Anders was already moving.

The rifle cracked when Anders body-slammed Apollo flat, winging Tenpoint's arm.

Landin had begun moving an instant after Anders. His boot met the C-buck's gut before he grabbed Anders by the shoulders and hauled him back, throwing him to the street. He took Lee by an arm and pulled him to his feet.

Seeing Anders struck, Caden jerked up her pistol in response. Walker, standing near her, with barely a flutter in his expression, rammed his rifle butt into her abdomen and up into her jaw when she doubled over. He disarmed her, almost casually, as she fell back.

Anders rolled to his knees and swiped a rivulet of blood from his chin; he had bitten his lip when he fell. Tenpoint was up again and taking aim, blood blossoming on his arm. This time his eyes were on Lee.

Walker wrenched around from the fallen Caden. His rifle he raised one-handed to point it towards Anders. Caden's pistol he brought around on Tenpoint.

And everyone was pointing their gun at someone, so quickly it stole the breath away. The Galactica people were outnumbered, but furious, and well-trained. It would not have been their fight, but they would have made it a nasty one.

Abri and her "sisters" shrank back behind Helo.

Lee was standing unmoving now, staring hard at Sam Anders.

Not even a full minute had passed.

Yet in that short time, in barely a minute, the cylons had come within range. Walker swung his arms together and just to the right of Anders, firing at a centurion that was about to make a pin-hole target of Landin's back. Anders dropped, realizing only afterwards that the Marine had not been shooting at him.

They all started firing at once, out at the cylons that were almost upon them. Joe touched down then, lowering its ramp as it did. Starbuck and Helo herded the girls towards the ramp, where they were met by Shields and a fascinated Sharon, and ushered on board. The others fell back in twos and threes, leaving their dead where they lay.

Apollo had not moved.

"Lee! Lee come on!" Starbuck called. "Oh _frak this!"_

She ran back down the ramp, followed closely by Helo and Walker. Landin had stayed with Apollo. Helo, Walker, and Landin lifted Seek, and ran as best they could with her bulk between them back to the Raider. Starbuck practically grabbed Lee by the scuff of his neck and dragged him after them.

_"Go go go!"_ she cried as soon as she, and Lee with her, cast themselves down onto the deck.

She need not have bothered. With centurion bullets chasing them, they were already in the air.

"You son of a bitch!" Lee bellowed. He fought savagely, albeit weakly, against the restraining arms or Helo and Walker, who were sorely tempted to let him go and join the fight. "Why would you do that? _Why?" _

"She was going after Sam," Tenpoint shouted back defiantly. "I did what I had to do."

"She was going after the cylon, you idiot. She was _protecting _Anders."

"Ok everyone just calm down!" Starbuck barked, not sounding especially calm herself. "We've got a long flight back to Delphi and it'd be nice not to kill each other on the way."

If it was possible, Joe's passengers were more polarized now than they had been on the trip _to _Caprica City. And they were more crowded. Even though they had taken some losses, the little girls they now carried took up a lot of space. They were packed up towards the front with Sharon, Shields, and Seek. The rest of the space was taken up by furious, shouting, frothing men and women. It looked as though their survival between here and Delphi _really was_ in question.

Sharon sat back, away from the battle, watching Starbuck and Helo try to keep the peace. Try half-heartedly to keep the peace. Her back was to them; she had placed herself as a barrier between the seething mob and the huddled girls. And the dead dog.

Tenpoint's shot had been well placed; it had gone right through Seek's throat. Some of the children recoiled from her. Others stroked her fur with the loving fascination of children that have not seen any dog at all in many months, had half convinced themselves dogs were just something they had imagined, like loving homes, and schools, and families.

Sharon touched her too. It was the first time she had been able to, and the sensation surprised her. Warm, even in death. Warm in the heart, chilling in the body. Her eyes welled up with tears.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered. And she was.

She did not know what compelled her to run her hand down the length of the dog and rest it on her belly. Thoughts of children, perhaps, and the belief Shields had had that this dog had been pregnant.

Something shifted under her hand.

"Calm the hell down, Apollo!" Anders was saying. "It's only a dog for frak's sake!"

"Right Anders. Only a fraking dog, is that they way you want to play it? Least on your long list of crimes, isn't that right?"

"What are you _talking_ about?"

"You know what, _frak you _alright!"

"Enough!" Starbuck shouted. "Gods Lee just take it easy." She stood between the two men, one hand on Lee's chest, one on Anders. She did not know what she expected them to do if she let her hands fall, but she felt more secure with them there regardless.

"No," Landin growled. "Why should he? Why should any of us?"

Sharon leaned closer to the dog, pressing her ear against the cooling belly.

"God," she breathed. "Corporal, give me your knife."

Shields edged closer, drawing his knife from his belt and handing it to her, while placing his other hand near Sharon's on the dog's middle. His eyes widened.

"Ok what's going on here? Landin what's all this about?"

"Frak, sir, don't you know? Wasn't enough for the bastards to shoot Marcel, shoot up the Cap. Trigger happy sons of bitches have to shoot the damn _dog _too. What's next? Huh? You frakers not gonna be happy 'til you've got all of us?"

The children whimpered and shrank back when Sharon carefully inserted the knife just under Seek's ribcage. All except Abri. The girl was sturdy in spirit as well as body, and had realized what Sharon was trying to do. She and Shields together hesitantly pulled the skin and muscle aside as Sharon cut. They held the dog open while Sharon reached for the uterus, pulling it half out. Some of the other girls moved closer now.

"Get a grip, Marine. Cylons shot our guys. These guyshave been helping us every since we got here."

"Due respect, sir, but frak off."

"Corporal!" Apollo snapped, wrenching his arms free of Walker and Helo's grips. "That's enough!"

With Shields whispering instructions, Sharon carefully sliced into the uterus. The puppies were each in their own placental sacks. She lifted them out one by one, cutting the placentas away, sucking the fluid out of their mouths and noses. There were six of them. Soon each was held by eager hands, which rubbed their backs vigorously trying to get their blood flowing, trying to get them to breathe. Sharon felt Seek's dead, mother eyes watching her, pleading with her, cheering her on.

"Come on baby," she said softly. "Come on."

"Please puppy," Abri begged, with tears in her eyes. "Breathe puppy."

"I'm sorry sir, I am." Landin was shaking with rage now. By the looks on Helo's and Walker's faces, they were not far behind him. "I did like you ordered. I didn't say anything. But now this bastard with his 'it's just a dog.' They knew. They knew all the time. How could they not? They came up and met us where Marcel was gunned down and they knew right then it had been _people _they were shooting at. But they didn't say anything. Hell, if the fraking _cylons _hadn't told _you _we still might not know. And them making nice all the time."

Starbuck let her hands fall from Lee's and Anders' chests. She turned to face the captain of the C-bucks, taking a step back to stand closer to her men. Her face was confused, angry, accusing.

"_You…" _

"We didn't know… Kara…I swear we didn't…"

The tiny puppy in Abri's hands mewled. The little girl squeaked delightedly, hugging the pup to her chest.

"Until you got up on that ridge. You knew then, didn't you?"

"What about him!" Tenpoint demanded. Having taken the first shot that day, he was not inclined to follow this line of conversation. "Held by the cylons _three days _and he's walkin' and talkin' like they had him for tea."

"I'm not sure I'd characterize it that way."

"Yeah, well can you explain it? They just cut you down and leave you! Why would they do that? You give them something maybe? Or maybe you're one of them yourself!"

"Gods are you really as dumb as you look? They _left me, _because they wanted me to make a trail. They were after Sharon, and her baby, and when I wouldn't tell them where she was they put a tracker in me and cut me loose so that I would maybe move around a little and draw any searchers deeper into their territory."

"Likely story. And you just happen to find a cabin with all the necessities of life. With a fraking _dog _for gods sake! That doesn't seem a little too convenient for you?"

"Well what can I say Tenpoint, cylons don't like being inconvenienced any more than we do. Took me to where they were, and where they were just happened to be killing some old guy in his cabin in the mountains. My good luck." He scoffed that last part.

"And you healing like you are? Never even had your arm in a sling!"

"Disappoint you does it? Make you doubt your marksmanship?"

"Don't dodge the fraking question. Why are you healing so fast? Healing like a cylon!"

The puppy Sharon held hiccupped, began squirming in her hands. It had been a long time since she had felt such joy.

"I don't know," Lee bit out. "Maybe I _am _a cylon. Maybe you'd better throw me out right now!"

"They were treating him! Your own doc and Sharon both said so. They wanted to keep him alive."

"Why! What's he to them?"

"To interrogate him longer. Or maybe so he could run, make that trail."

"Lot of maybes in there Starbuck. Maybe we _should _pitch him right now."

"No one's getting pitched!" Anders cut in. "I think we all just need to take a minute here."

"Frak that. I say we need to dump your asses back in Delphi and go home."

Shield's pup squirmed a little.

"Sharon? Shields? Don't you have anything to say here?"

"No. Not particularly."

And all eyes were on them then. All eyes widened at the sight of a cut open Seek lying in a pool of her own blood; of tiny, damp, writhing puppies in the reddened hands of their companions. Lee could hardly believe what he was seeing. Step by step, not tearing his eyes away for fear it would be an illusion, he walked to them and lowered himself to his knees with exaggerated care. Puppies. Tiny, sightless puppies seeking warmth and love and nourishment. He accepted the one Shields handed to him gingerly, pulling it close to his chest and staring in awe. He was barely aware of the others coming up behind him, barely aware of anything, but this last, greatest gift his Seek had given him, given all of them.

Lee Adama was not a tearful man. Even at his own brother's funeral he had not cried. The day his father had been shot in CIC was the first time he could remember crying in many long years. But then, in that moment, with all of the events of these last days crashing down upon him in torrents of fury, and agony, with the inescapable knowledge that he could not change any of it, not one minute, not one breath of time, and not one of his friends that was dead now could ever come back, and his soul would be changed forever and _he _could never go back, and so many innocents had died with and for and by him, and now he would go home and he could not take her with him…but for this. He was going to return to Galactica with everything gone and everything gained lost again and he had nothing at all to show for it… Had had nothing at all to show, but now this.

He wept.


End file.
